On Sept. 17, 2023 the men who resided on the first floor of J.W. Abercrombie Hall noticed that their rooms began to be filled with water coming from the bathrooms and showers, causing many of the residents to gather a few essentials and move out of their rooms until the problem could be identified.
The Division of Facilities Management and Operations sent out a statement saying that there was a major blockage in the sanitary sewer line, which was causing backup into the first-floor shower drains.
The first-floor students were moved into a hotel for a few days and had to take a shuttle bus on and off campus until the university could repair the problem.
Sophomore Zadaviss Carter believes the university acted quickly, but this problem was not new.
“The school has known for years that Abercrombie has been experiencing plumbing problems, and they tend to ignore this problem by placing a band-aid on it like they always do,” he said. “Now it did take them a little bit of time to figure out what they were going to do about our rooms, but they have been working to clean them and return them back to their original state.”
He then goes on to say, “I am glad that the school placed us in these nice temporary apartments, and it would be nice if our rooms were like this.”
Sophomore Aaron McNell agreed with Carter when it came to how the university moved them out and how they selected good quality hotel rooms.
“ASU did a really good job when it came to getting hotel rooms. The plumbing was not so fine, but they were working on the building and helping recovering students who were affected by moving us. They did come beforehand to try to soak up the water, but at the end of the day, they still had to move us,” McNell said.
“The whole situation was crazy, and I don’t appreciate it, but I feel like ASU accommodated us well. They tried to assess the situation,” junior Kayin Pickett said. “I went back to my room after the situation to get some more clothes and stuff, and I guess they tried airing out the rooms with humidifiers and fans all around the room because my door was wide open, and I don’t appreciate that either because anyone could come in and take something.”
Kameron Thomas, a graduating senior, expressed his thoughts on how the university handled the situation and what measures he felt like could have been made to better the situation for the students.
“Well I believe the first time the issue happened, they should have taken more drastic measures with how they approached it. If I’m not mistaken, it was one student’s room who had that problem, and after that one problem, they decided to clean it – like just clean the mess that was made – instead of actually going into the sewage system and fixing it,” Thomas said. “I believe that only delayed the chaos that would follow because the next morning, when me and other students awoke, all of our floors were flooded, and it was like ‘ok, you’re moving people out,’ and that’s ok but water is still building up there, and you still have people living in that dormitory – you still have people having to live in the building that smells of fecal matter.”
Thomas then goes on to say, “I don’t know about you, but as long as you still have people living in that building and they’re still using water, the flooding is going to keep getting worse because you just moved people out of the first floor instead of evacuating everyone out of the building.”
“ASU handled it decent with moving us out, but it could’ve been avoided if you had watched the buildings properly, tested all the water, test the pipes and looked at all that before you start moving students in because once you start moving students into those dorms, it’s on go and it doesn’t stop.” Thomas added. “So, I just feel like they need to do better with going ahead of time and checking not just that one building but every single building.”
Many students felt like they needed confirmation and to be heard among the masses because of what they went through. SGA Executive President Landon A. Hale sent out an immediate press release on Sept. 20, about Abercrombie Hall and how it is being handled for the students.
“The Student Government Association is fully committed to supporting all students affected by this incident. We are in the process of organizing in partnership with Miss Alabama State University and Court on a drive to help recover some of the materials that have been lost or damaged in the affected areas. We believe coming together as a community is the best way to overcome challenges like this one, and we encourage you to reach out to us if you have any specific needs or concerns.”