 "Photo: Ken Muir")
Barricades were placed around the entrance to the south side of the Education building and the north side of the English/Philosophy building after a stone fell off the Education building’s pediment Oct. 20.
“From the very minute it happened, the area was barricaded off to ensure student safety,” said Judy Simpson, assistant dean for the College of Education.
Bill Droll, project manager of Facilities Construction and Planning, said the English building’s north side was barricaded as a precaution because the same stone also was used on the English building,
“We want to check all the stone on the English building to ensure safety for students and faculty,” Droll said. “We think that moisture got in behind the stone and caused some rusting on the rebar. When it rusted, it expanded and broke the stone in two.”
The Physical Plant is working with the building’s manufacturer to asses the actual cause.
The $46.2 million complex that consists of the Education and English/Philosophy buildings was completed in mid-2002, according to the facility department Web site.
“Right now we have the manufacturer looking at the building,” said Douglas Chowning, managing director of the Physical Plant. “The manufacturer has an engineer trying to figure out what was wrong with the initial construction to cause this.”
The engineer’s proposal will have to be reported before repair plans can be made and costs associated with those plans can be estimated, he said.
“We are taking it as a manufacturing, construction and design defect,” Chowning said, “and we are looking at the manufacturer to share the cost.”
An additional stone will be taken down from the Education building Wednesday.
“We are concerned about this stone,” Droll said. “It is inside the barricaded area, but we want to be sure.”
Jennifer Patterson, a multidisciplinary studies major from Lubbock, said she wonders if the incident could have been avoided.
“As new as the building is, it’s kind of distressing the stone fell,” Patterson said. “If it had been an older building like the library, it would have been a bit more understandable.”
