Courtney Emory stepped out of her room on fourth Devereux after hearing several students violently coughing in her hallway. Emory said she, too, began coughing and experiencing upper respiratory issues once she inhaled the air in the hallway.
“Your throat hurt right away, you couldn’t breathe, it was horrible,” said Emory, a sophomore sociology major.
Emory said students received an email on Oct. 28, the night of the incident, stating that students had reported a strange odor on her floor.
Robbie Chulick, associate director of residence life, said that the incident was isolated to the north and west hallways on fourth Devereux; the issue did not affect any other floors in Devereux, nor did it affect the entirety of the floor.
Tim Williamson, a sophomore marketing major, lives on the portion of fourth Devereux that remained unaffected by the odor. He said that the incident on his floor caused “mass hysteria” among residents of Devereux. Williamson said he believes the worries were unfounded.
“I know a lot of people are already sick because the seasons are changing and this always happens with allergies,” said Williamson.
Gary Segrue, director of Safety and Security, said that after consulting with Jared Smith, director of facilities, and Katie O’Brien, vice president for student affairs, the Safety and Security team deemed it unnecessary to evacuate students from the floor at the time of the incident.
Emory said that Safety and Security officers remained on her floor for the duration of the incident. She recalled the incident lasting several hours and that multiple students on her floor struggled with respiratory issues.
“They never even said, ‘Stay in your rooms.’ They were just walking around the hallway… they never really told us anything or told us to do anything specific,” said Emory.
Segrue said that on the night of the incident, he called Christopher Baker, the director of the Cattaraugus County Office of Emergency Services, to consult with him on the best course of action. The two ultimately determined that professionals should run an air quality test that night to ensure the safety of students living on fourth Devereux.
“The response team utilized three meters to check for the hazardous presence of gases such as natural gas, carbon monoxide, chlorine, hydrogen sulfides, volatile organic compounds (and) fuels,” said Segrue.
Segrue said that a private firm contracted by Cattaraugus County conducted the tests on the university’s behalf but could not pinpoint how much the testing would cost the university.
“No readings indicating hazardous materials were present at the time of the test,” said Segrue. “It was evident that someone on the floor, in that specific wing, exposed an unknown substance that was irritating to individuals in the hallway.”
Emory said that since the Oct. 28 incident, she has not had any further trouble with respiratory issues related to the environment on fourth Devereux.
Segrue said the only other odor Safety and Security had received notification of on fourth Devereux since that night occurred on Nov. 2—the complaint said that the floor smelled of marijuana.
Segrue said he considers it imperative for students to report any information about another student “possessing or exposing a noxious material within our campus community” to Safety and Security.
“Students are our first line of defense in our residential spaces,” said Segrue.
By Meghan Hall, Associate Editor
hallml18@bonaventure.edu
