by Xochitl Campos
Daily Lobo
Mitchell Hall has cultivated more than knowledge in the past few years, student Rene Estes-Roberts said.
"It smells like sewer," she said. "It makes me think of port-o-potties and smells just being trapped."
Estes-Roberts said she first noticed the smell when she came to UNM in fall 2006.
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Physical Plant told the Daily Lobo in 2005 that two broken ventilation motors caused the stench.
Joel Straquadine, facilities maintenance manager, said Physical Plant met with an engineering team to solve the issue, but they were unable to come up with a decision.
"Originally, the engineer came back saying that running a duct outside of the building would help, but architecturally, that was not accepted because it was ugly," he said. "It is an old building. We didn't necessarily want to change the look of it."
He said the group decided not to create the duct.
There are many projects on campus that need more attention than Mitchell Hall, and that is one reason it is taking so long to fix the problem, Straquadine said.
The University needs a contractor to fix the problem, but it needs funding to hire one, Straquadine said.
"Right now, the first proposals would be well above $70,000," he said. "It is hard to say because they are in the conceptual design right now."
As a temporary solution, the department will try to reduce the odor by sucking air away from the bathrooms, he said.
The problem arises from the ventilation system, said Harvey Chace, associate director for maintenance and planning.
"We have had our engineer over there," he said. "We're going to have to upgrade the system."
The building hasn't had any major upgrades since the 1950s, he said.
But there are other issues that contribute to the stench,
he said.
"Another problem we have discovered is that there is a trash collection room on the south side of the building in the sun," he said. "It is right next to the air intake for the ventilation system for the building."
Chace said the heat makes the garbage smell worse, and the odor is pumped into the building through the vents.
The maintenance department changed the location for the trash collection, but the odor remains, he said.
The only solution is to upgrade the vent system, he said.
Student Paul D'Ornellas said the Mitchell smell is nothing new.
D'Ornellas said the building stunk even when he started at UNM four years ago.
"It is not bad once you get used to it," he said. "But you walk in there, and you feel like you're going to pass out."
He said he waits outside the building until his classes start to avoid the stench.
"It smells like a bathroom," he said. "I don't understand how that could be coming
from vents."
