Higher Education: A Sick Campus

For those of you unfamiliar with the University of Kansas, there is one building at the center of the main campus that is infamous for its ugliness: Wescoe Hall. It houses the Humanities Departments, many professor and GTA offices, and a large number of classrooms, among which are two of the larger and most frequently used lecture halls.

Very few undergraduate students will graduate from KU without having at least one class at Wescoe. Now we find out that there maybe something going on at Wescoe that is affect the health of faculty and staff members. I first heard about the larger than normal number of brain tumours occuring in faculty and staff who work in these offices the weekend after a departamental meeting first released this "hush-hush" information to a few faculty members. The issue has since caused alarm with many professors changing their offices hours and locations away from the building. From the Lawrence Journal-World:

The recent concerns arose this spring when an English department faculty member was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Swann said there have been three cases of faculty members diagnosed with brain tumors in the last year. She said in two cases, the tumors are malignant. She said there also was a diagnosis four years ago and another eight years ago. Four of the cases involved people within the history department, and several people shared the same second-floor corridor.

[...]

According to the Chronicle, officials at RMIT University in Melbourne last month evacuated two floors in a main building after reports of several staff members diagnosed with brain tumors. An investigation is under way.

Swann said she believes KU should follow the Australian university’s lead and evacuate faculty and staff during the investigation.

In the meantime, Swann isn’t waiting for an evacuation. She has moved out of her office and only drops in when she needs to.

“In my own case, I’m completely changing my work habits and I’m going to stay out of my office.”

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