Don't neglect safety: Safety renovations should not be put on hold

While the recent economic downturn has left UNC with less funding construction projects intended to improve fire safety on campus especially in dorms should not be delayed.

The state budget office's decision to withhold $6.5 million for repairs and renovations will affect the University's construction projects many of which are fire safety renovations.

Notable among the projects that would be pushed back are renovations to Wilson Library and Woollen Gym and sprinkler improvements in the Olde Campus Upper Quad Community. Proposed staircases to be added to Wilson Library would make the building meet fire safety codes and some residence halls in the Olde Campus Upper Quad still lack sprinkler systems.

The fact that some residence  halls still don't have sprinkler systems is absolutely mind boggling.

This is particularly relevant in light of the fire this weekend when sprinkler systems in Gerrard Hall partially contained flames until the fire department arrived on the scene likely preventing more extensive damage.

There is also the reminder of the tragic deaths of five UNC students in 1996 when the Phi Gamma Delta house burned down. The fraternity house did not have sprinkler systems that might have prevented the deaths.

Since that fire the N.C. General Assembly has mandated that all residence halls have fire sprinklers by 2012. But that's almost 16 years after the Phi Gamma Delta tragedy.

We have seen the heartbreak that fires can cause. Thus it's troubling that some residence halls on UNC's campus still lack basic safety precautions that could help prevent future tragedies.

Other renovations can be put on hold until UNC receives additional funding but retrofitting new sprinkler systems in residence halls must be a first priority.

It's simply reckless to ignore these lifesaving renovations.