In 2001, concerns circulated on campus about the occurrence of brain tumors among RWC faculty and staff who had offices in Muntz Hall. Because of this, Dr. John Andrews (Director of University Health Services) oversaw an environmental health scan of Muntz Hall at that time. With yet another recent case of brain tumor in an RWC faculty member who had a Muntz Hall office, the RWC Faculty Executive Committee requested a copy of the 2001 report on Dr. Andrews’s findings. As a result, a forum was held on Thursday April 17, at which Dr. Andrews spoke. RWC Interim Dean, at the urging of the faculty, has now called for further testing of the building.
The University’s Department of Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) may have begun its survey of Muntz Hall as early as Monday April 27. A preliminary inspection would start it off in which the EH&S notes and reports any environmental issues found and recommends the appropriate strategies for fixing any problems.
An investigation will then be conducted for radiation above the normal background levels. The inspection process takes 10 working days to complete, with an additional 10 days needed for analysis of the data and written report.
The Activist will publish the results when they are available.