Year busy with minor calamities

This school year saw its fair share of incidents that got students talking — and they didn't just happen on the basketball court.

From the Teague Residence Hall shower peeper to the Kenan Stadium power outage campus stayed busy the whole year.

Gerrard Hall fire

Police investigated a Nov. 8 fire in Gerrard Hall and treated it as an arson case.

The fire which set off alarms at 3:14 a.m. was partially extinguished by the building's newly installed sprinkler system. When firefighters arrived they put out flames on eight chairs that were still burning.

The Chapel Hill Fire Department estimated repairs to cost about $50000.

The building which in recent years has hosted guest speakers concerts and occasional receptions was unoccupied at the time the fire occurred.

The Loreleis' concert scheduled for 8 p.m. in Gerrard Hall that night was relocated to Carroll Hall.

Suspects were never named and arrests in the case have not been made.

Shower peeper

A sophomore living in Teague Residence Hall was arrested in connection with multiple peeping incidents.

On Sept. 25 a woman living on the second floor of Teague was taking a shower late at night in her suite with the bathroom door unlocked. She heard the door open but no one answered when she inquired who was there.

After looking up from shaving her legs she saw a cell phone in her face which she presumed was recording her.

A second incident with similar circumstances was reported on Jan. 19.

A woman living on the third floor of Teague was showering at about 2 a.m. that day when she heard the bathroom door open. Her roommate came out of their room saw the man standing in the doorway and recognized him.

When he saw the roommate he left the suite. The roommate identified him as Roach and turned him in to police.

Police arrested Gregory Roach20 of Raleigh on Feb. 27.

Anti-abortion posters

A UNC student group sponsored an anti-abortion demonstration in October that sparked heated responses.

Carolina Students for Life was granted $5000 in student fees from Student Congress in September to bring the exhibit to campus.

The exhibit which consisted of 18-foot panels with hard-to-stomach images of dead human fetuses dominated Polk Place for two days.

The display towered over the central part of campus but many students responded negatively.

Despite the response students remained civil with the demonstrators although many criticized Congress for funding the partisan display.

Dorm flooding

Both Winston and McIver residence halls experienced flooding and minor damage from fire sprinklers this year.

Students playing football in McIver broke a sprinkler head in late November causing flooding and water damage to the first and second floors.

Two student rooms a community director's apartment and the second-floor hallways all received water damage.

Plans were made to relocate students whose rooms were affected and for the student who threw the football to pay for the damages said Rick Bradley assistant director for housing.

Water also flooded Winston Residence Hall March 20 after a student living on the fourth floor activated a sprinkler by removing an item that was hanging from the sprinkler head. The water caused damage and displaced students surrounding the fourth-floor room.

Larry Hicks director of housing and residential education said the sprinklers emit 50 gallons of water a minute.

Dorms contain asbestos

Six UNC residence halls were discovered to have materials in their walls that contain asbestos — a small toxic fiber once used to insulate and fire-proof buildings. Inhaling high levels of asbestos can cause serious health problems.

Even after a $22 million renovation that finished in 2007 Morrison Residence Hall remained one of the six dormitories containing this dangerous substance.

Hinton James Avery Parker Morrison Ehringhaus and Craige contain this asbestos within their cinder block walls. Most were built in the 1960s.

Rick Bradley assistant director for housing said that it would take extreme action for the asbestos to become airborne.



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.