Mold, Among Other Things…
Illustration by Noelle Mitcham
Article by Reese Borchert
NEWBERG, Ore. – The George Fox University (GFU) Crime and Fire Safety Report reveals that the university premises are generally secured from intruders. However, invasions of a different sort have crept and crawled their way into campus living spaces.
“Being exposed to mold was the worst thing that’s ever happened to me,” says Claire Caldwell, a recent graduate of GFU who lived in Campbell House for the 2023-2024 school year.
“My first impression was that it was a nice, albeit worn-down house,” says Brennan Hake, a sophomore computer engineering major currently living in Wilder House. Hake still appreciates aspects of Wilder, such as its aesthetic, but acknowledges its flaws.
“It wasn't very pleasant,” says Hannah Robles about the summer of 2025 in Hoskins House. “A stove burner was broken, there was no vent fan, most windows didn't open, one shower had mold in it and the basement had a small, impractical kitchen.”
The varying physical issues with these on-campus housing options are more than slight discomforts throughout the day.
“Living in that house affected my mental health because it was pretty dirty, crowded and had bugs,” says Robles. “Tiny spiders and ants were coming out of small cracks that were in the windowsill by the head of my bed.” Robles is not the only one disturbed by where they slept and impacted by an unwelcome guest.
“I had heard about mold from a mentor of mine and decided to investigate the room to see if I could find any,” says Caldwell. About a month into the school year she started experiencing headaches, abdominal pain, fatigue and intense brain fog. “The exterior facing wall next to my bed felt damp but I didn’t see any mold, so I just tried to take care of myself as best I could and manage symptoms.”
As the semester continued, her symptoms escalated until they were head-splitting, causing Caldwell an inability to see and think. These issues arose for her before Thanksgiving.
“I ended up with the worst flu I had ever had and would tremble in bed with body aches, sweating from fevers, and pain. It felt like in the movies when someone becomes terminally ill and is bedridden,” says Caldwell.
“This freaked me out because my fears were becoming reality,” says Caldwell. Before winter break, she encountered a substance “suspiciously similar to pictures of black mold when you look it up” on the wall when cleaning out under her bed before winter break. She promptly put in a maintenance request but their visit was inconducive.
“They moved the furniture away from the wall and told us it just needed room to breathe and more wouldn’t grow. They never did a test, they never moved me to a different room and they never asked if we were okay. They didn’t even properly clean the mold off the wall,” says Caldwell.
Despite the conclusions of the maintenance request, Caldwell knew that there was an issue with mold. Caldwell says, “I know that mold was the issue. I saw it. I felt it.”
To know the extent to which sleeping by black mold was impacting her wellness, Caldwell ordered a test. The results confirmed extremely high levels of two mycotoxins in her body.
“I put in a request from my doctor to the school to ask that they pay for my mold test because it was 300 dollars but they claimed that mold was never a problem because the records showed it was resolved by maintenance,” says Caldwell.
Hake, a Wilder house resident, agrees that GFU Maintenance has not been the most advantageous. “The upstairs bathtub's siding has been stained black with mold and no matter how much I've tried, I can't get it off,” says Hake.
“There was also a leak in the house last year and maintenance ‘fixed’ it by installing a board where the leak was, which ended up becoming extremely moldy because they never actually fixed the leak,” says Hake.
Hake is unsure whether the root cause has been addressed or if the plaster that replaced the board will decay in due time as well.
“When I lived in Weesner apartments, there were tons of spiders, ants, a slug and a wasp. The ants were bad and covered the dining room table,” says Robles. “I did nothing to cause an ant infestation.” Now living in Winter’s apartments, spiders are the main issue as she sees them and their webs everywhere.
Similarly, Marilyn Green, a sophomore Elementary Education major recalls a time she visited her friend living in Fell House.
“It was the most foul insect,” says Green. While waiting for cookies to bake in the oven, the group saw a peculiarly large, black, wasp-like bug flying around. They promptly sought to remove this “condemned creature” and eventually trapped it between a red solo cup and candle lid.
“We crossed our fingers that it would be dead,” says Green. Another student went outside and released the seal after violently shaking the cup with the bug inside.
“Most of the issues we've experienced have been partly due to the house's age,” says Hake. GFU has initiated renovation projects to freshen the residential offerings, like the Beebee and Willcuts Suites last summer and soon, the Hobson, Macy and Sutton complex.
“I will be detoxing the mold in my body for the next seven years. I will continue to have aches and experience sickness,” says Caldwell. The additional healthcare she now requires is especially a burden in addition to the debt of tuition costs.
Many facets contribute to a student's safety. A comfortable place to live immensely improves an individual's sense of belonging and environments can often influence rates of success. GFU doesn’t wish to be a “bubble” but aren’t there some things that should be sealed out? And how can certain protections be guaranteed to students simply desiring to acquire an education?
