Former Dial professor recalls illnesses

By Nathan Walls
Editor

A former Dial Building professor, who was plagued by illnesses since 2001, recalled some of his sickly experiences at a Special Dial Building Committee open forum March 17 in the Sampson-Livermore Library.

Political science professor Dr. Frank Trapp said he sent photos of his office to Chancellor Allen Meadors when he peeled back the wall to find it covered in black mold. Trapp said Meadors acted immediately, but Trapp was upset that the university reported that no one that worked in Dial became sick due to mold.

“In everything that’s been put out by the university, there’s never been any statement that someone was sick in the building and I will say that I have been very sick,” Trapp said. “Since 2001, I’ve had a very serious illness and that illness required that I be hospitalized in Washington D.C. while I was on a trip with students and at that point I had a fever of 104.5 and the entire staff at George Washington Hospital could not figure out why I was so ill. It led to the point where I had to be driven home by a close friend of my family. At one point the doctor told me there was nothing they could do for me, that it was between me and God basically. It didn’t dawn on me then that the building was sick.”

When Trapp became aware of this omission in university releases, he went to the Faculty Senate and asked for an inquiry into the closing of the Dial Building. The inquiry, which is being conducted by the committee, was approved at a Faculty Senate meeting last semester.

Despite Meadors’ actions, Trapp said other UNCP employees, whom he didn’t name, treated him differently.

“Everything that I got back from people outside the chancellor’s office was ‘We’re going to clean up your office and get you back in as soon as possible,’” Trapp said.

Trapp also told of being ill on a plane to Estonia in 2002. He said his condition improved on the trip, but later worsened when he had been back in Pembroke for two and a half weeks. He said he didn’t get better until another vacation.

“This following year, I had the worst strep throat I’ve ever had in my life,” Trapp said. “I had puss pockets the size of peas in my throat that popped out as I recovered. I had a terrible persistent cough and four weeks after leaving the semester, on the way to Texas, my cough went away suddenly. So, at this point it began to dawn on me that something in the school’s environment is making me sick.”

Trapp said his condition could have been fatal, even though he is not allergic to anything.

“I had acid reflux syndrome so strong prior to going to the doctor that I had to put my bed up 2-feet so I wouldn’t drown in my own bile at night,” Trapp said. “The doctor said that my respiratory system was just so overloaded that it would just dump phlegm in my stomach and my stomach would react. I had to go through about a month of treatment and I’m on Nexium and thick Pretizone and it made me sick and I take exception to the administration saying that they’ve had no reported health issues.”

Trapp urged the committee to put together a solid report that would impact the administration and benefit the entire university.

“I think there’s a cult here among our administrators that really caused this problem to be exacerbated,” Trapp said. “What I would like you to do is to look at that culture which leads to decision making. I know that the administration is probably under tremendous pressure and I don’t want to put anybody through pressure, but the fact of the matter is it seems evident to me that someone was aware of this problem. The spore count in my office was 7,000 when they tested it. It probably would have killed me in the end or have caused me to have a serious illness and so therefore that culture that led to that, this committee needs to look at it. If you’re not going to do that…you’re not going to have any influence on them.”

Mold had been in building for a while, faculty and staff say

Another issue arose at the meeting about how long mold was actually in the Dial Building before it was closed.

“I have taught in that building since ’81 and I’ve seen it (mold) in there before,” committee chair Dr. Richard Vela said.

Speech secretary Tina Emanuel recalled seeing mold as early as last June in room 153. Emanuel said a Physical Plant worker removed a dry erase board from the wall of the room and mold was evident on the wall.

“He specifically said, ‘It’s mold,’” Emanuel said.

Emanuel did not disclose the name of the worker, but according to Physical Plant Director Larry Freeman he did not remember mold being reported in Dial that early. However, Freeman did provide a work order that showed room 153 was painted last year between June 11-17.

“We removed two dry erase boards and added one new one,” Freeman said. “No mold was seen or discovered when this work was done.”

An Oct. 17 press release states that the university became aware of a mold problem in Dial the first week of October.

Faculty and staff tour Dial

According to a March press release, Dial faculty and staff members “toured the partially gutted building and attended one of two meetings with Chancellor Allen Meadors, Provost Roger Brown, representatives from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Division of Public Health and environmental and engineering consultants” on March 2.

The release states this was the first time the building was opened to visitors since the building closed on Oct. 17. However, the Special Dial Building Committee received a tour of the building on Feb. 23.

Construction bids went out in late February, the release reports, and the building is expected to be ready in time for the start of the Fall semester in August.