Saint Vincent College students were alerted over break that a water leakage incident had occurred in Rooney and Saint Benedict Halls. Pipes were damaged due to the extremely cold temperatures followed by a quick thaw over the months of December and January.
An email sent from Bob Baum, dean of students, notified students of the incident, stating, “a pipe in Rooney Hall and one in Saint Benedict Hall ruptured, resulting in some water leakage.”
The email also stated, “The FMO staff quickly resolved the leak and cleaned all affected areas. The carpets and hallways have been mopped and shampooed.”
Students whose rooms were affected were notified of the damages prior to the email sent to all campus residents.
Joe Navari, a senior history major, lives on the third floor of Rooney Hall and was affected by the incident. He was informed of the damages on Jan. 10, a few days before classes resumed for the spring semester.
“When I arrived back to campus most of my items were moved around, and were mostly in the middle of the room,” Navari said.
Navari said many of his roommate’s items were damaged and had molded after not being cleaned.
Saint Benedict Hall also suffered a pipe burst. The leak affected most of the A tower and leaked from the fourth floor to the first.
Alperen Aksehir, sophomore management major, is the prefect of pod 4A in Saint Benedict. His room was one of two in the pod that were affected by the water leak.
Aksehir said that when he entered his pod after returning from break, he
found two waterlogged rugs in the common room that he realized were his.
“I am assuming FMO had tried to save everything that was on the ground from damage. They took everything off the ground and placed it up higher,” Aksehir said.
Along with the rugs, Aksehir also lost some books to the water leak.
“A couple of my books were ruined from the water, but they were not ones that were very important,” Aksehir said.
One other room in pod 4A suffered water damage from the leak incident.
Raphael Bueno, the RHD of Saint Benedict Hall, said he felt the incident was discovered quickly and that FMO did a great job of cleaning the
affected areas.
The email sent from the Baum stated that any questions or concerns about the incident could be directed to the Residence Life Office.
Photo: Genna Niemiec