Broken boiler in Bachmann causes frigid conditions

Chattering teeth and complaints could be heard throughout Bachmann Main Building on the third Monday of the semester after the boiler broke, leaving the building without heat and students freezing.

Dr. Joe Glass jokingly made the comment that Monday, January 29th, would have been a nice day to cancel classes. Other professors instructed the class with their winter coats on.

While professors were sent an email that morning, students were not made aware of this, having to enter freezing classrooms.

“They need to be more honest with students,” said Catherine Sands, a student at Neumann, who questioned why the University did not email students with this information originally.

The University then announced all classes in BMB after 6 p.m. would be held online. Shortly following, they announced that all classes in BMB will be online for the week, with an exception to nursing majors, whose classes were moved to the Rocco Abessinio Building

Although some students were annoyed about having classes online, many business majors have expressed their discontent that the RAB was not closed.

Knight’s Cafe was also affected by the boiler and was closed on Tuesday, remaining closed for the rest of the week. This left students to depend on Bruder Life Center’s Dining Hall or a friend with a car in order to get food.

The University went back and forth sending multiple emails/texts a day that contradicted themselves. On Tuesday, the university emailed to cancel classes for the day and then again later to cancel for the rest of the week. This was later retracted on Thursday night and BMB was open for Friday’s classes.

Dr. Rachel Welicky’s environmental class was flip-flopping between in person and online instruction and she understood student frustrations. She apologized about all of the confusion and lack of information being given to students as well as to the staff.

“Please know I only want you to have a safe, sound, consistent learning environment that aligns with our RISES values,” said Welicky.

The original problem was that the main boiler used to provide heat to the Bachmann boiler system experienced a crack in the Fire Tube.

The new back-up boiler’s installation was “expedited” and “was placed in service on Wednesday January 31st,” according to Bill Leonard, director of facilities and maintenance. This has been operating continuously since then.

By Friday the building was open again with cool conditions as the boiler worked to heat back up the large building.