Environmental Health and Safety (EHS), University Facilities Management (UFM), and University Housing complied the following FAQs, campus support resources, and university communications.
The information and resources are intended to help students and their families make informed decisions about their wellness and living environment.
Molds can be found almost anywhere; they can grow on virtually any organic substance, if moisture and oxygen are present.
There are molds that can grow on wood, paper, carpet, foods, and insulation. When excessive moisture accumulates in buildings or on building materials, mold growth will often occur, particularly if the moisture problem remains undiscovered or unaddressed. It is impossible to eliminate all mold and mold spores in the indoor environment. However, mold growth can be controlled indoors by controlling moisture indoors.
Molds reproduce by making spores that usually cannot be seen without magnification. Mold spores waft through the indoor and outdoor air continually. When mold spores land on a damp spot indoors, they may begin growing and digesting whatever they are growing on in order to survive.
Molds gradually destroy the things they grow on. Many types of molds exist. All molds have the potential to cause health effects. Molds can produce allergens that can trigger allergic reactions or even asthma attacks in people allergic to mold. Potential health concerns are an important reason to prevent mold growth and to remediate/clean up any existing indoor mold growth. Since mold requires water to grow, it is important to prevent moisture problems in buildings.
Although there are thousands of different species of molds, when media and news sources refer to “black mold,” they are generally referring to a specific type of mold called Stachybotrys chartarum. This type of mold has shown to produce adverse health effects. It is extremely rare to find black mold in the residence halls.
Stachybotrys has a greenish-black color and often has a shiny sheen on its surface. Fortunately, it only occurs in areas where there is a constant water source. It typically grows on materials with a high cellulose content, such as fiberboard, gypsum board (drywall), and paper. It is not commonly found on hard, non-porous surfaces such as ceramic, aluminum, sheet metal (vents), etc.
Many types of common molds are dark brown or black in color. Some can produce adverse health effects; others may cause no effects at all. No matter the type, visible mold inside a building is unacceptable and the area should be cleaned, or the building construction product removed.
Enter a work order at: https://www.kent.edu/ufm/ready-work-request. If you need more immediate attention, you can call University Facilities Management (UFM) at 330-672-2345.
According to federal health and safety agencies, mold growth is commonly found in both indoor and outdoor environments. Some people are sensitive to mold and may experience short-term reactions in the presence of mold. Symptoms associated with mold exposure are not unique and cannot be readily distinguished from symptoms caused by other medical conditions, such as the common cold or seasonal environmental allergies. Since some individuals may have more intense reactions, those with medical conditions or who experience symptoms should consult with medical personnel.
To facilitate a move to another space on campus, contact a Residence Hall Staff member who can talk to you about options for a temporary or permanent relocation to another on-campus residence hall location. To locate the residence hall staff member for your hall visit: https://www.kent.edu/housing/staff.
UFM and EHS follow regulatory guidance from the EPA and CDC when conducting mold investigations. This entails performing a thorough visual inspection of the building which includes occupied spaces, mechanical spaces, and mechanical systems.
The visual inspection consists of:
Based on regulatory guidance, EHS does not perform air sampling during mold investigations because it is not considered an effective way to determine if a mold problem exists. This is due to the unpredictable nature of biological activity, variability in sampling, and difficulty with data interpretation. Standards for judging what is an acceptable, tolerable, or even normal quantity of airborne mold have not been established.
The use of petri dish style do-it-yourself home mold test kits is a topic that occasionally comes up during a mold investigation. These test kits are widely available online or in places like hardware stores and grocery stores. The kits consist of opening a petri dish containing growth media for a period and then sending it to a laboratory for analysis. These kits are not considered a credible method for assessing indoor air quality and are not recognized by reputable indoor air quality professionals.
In most investigations, no mold problems are found to be present. In rare cases, the university may employ the services of a third-party environmental consultant to evaluate a building or spaces within a building.
Mold is present in the indoor and outdoor air and on surfaces all around us each day. It requires moisture and a food source to colonize mold. The University does not routinely conduct air sampling for mold and instead follows federal agency guidance:
From the CDC: "Standards for judging what is an acceptable, tolerable, or normal quantity of mold have not been established" and "Generally it is not necessary to identify the species of mold growth in a residence, and CDC does not recommend routine sampling for molds. Current evidence indicates that allergies are the type of diseases most often associated with molds. Since the susceptibility of individuals varies greatly either because of the amount or type of mold, sampling and culturing are not reliable in determining your health risk... therefore, no matter what kind of mold is present, you should arrange for its removal." (https://www.cdc.gov/mold-health/about/index.html?CDC_AAref_Val=https://www.cdc.gov/mold/faqs.htm)
From the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): “In most cases, if visible mold growth is present, sampling is unnecessary. Since no EPA or other federal limits have been set for mold or mold spores, sampling cannot be used to check a building's compliance with federal mold standards.” (https://www.epa.gov/mold/mold-testing-or-sampling)
Mold and mildew remediation are not regulated by the EPA or CDC. According to the EPA, mold cannot be eliminated in the environment unless extreme measures are taken constantly, as would be the case in a “clean room” laboratory. The presence of visible mold on indoor building materials is generally agreed by professionals to be an unacceptable condition that should be remediated as quickly as possible. Anytime that mold or mildew is suspected UFM should be contacted 330-672-2345 or by submitting a work order at: https://www.kent.edu/ufm/ready-work-request.
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