A Living Nightmare: Brownsville Pipe Burst

In 2020, Frostburg State University added Brownsville Hall to its dormitories. On Friday, February 10th, the new dorm suffered a pipe burst on the 6th floor around 1:45 pm. The south side of the building flooded with water thus affecting all floors below it. It was not clear to students the severity of the situation until different posts on social media surfaced showing heavy water gushing from pipes on the ceiling and flooded hallways along with students witnessing the event.  

A Burg Alert was sent out at 2:32 pm telling non-Brownsville residents to stay clear of the building as maintenance is working on a water line break. Residents grew more concerned about their belongings, which led to them packing up their dorms as most rooms were flooded and not livable at the time. A high number of cars were parked at the front of the hall with students loading up belongings. Inside the hall was chaos, students were coming in and out with little to no directions, campus police officers were not visibly on the scene to help or direct students, and non-residents could easily gain access to witness the commotion. RAs (resident assistants) roamed the halls instructing students to exit their rooms and relocate to Sowers Hall or Frederick Hall which was allegedly shut down for unlivable conditions and mold. Cleaners were brought on-site to vacuum the water soaked up and place dehumidifiers in the hallways. 

Students received a second Burg Alert at 4:32 pm stating the hall was clear and residents could resume normal activities. Most residents were placed in Frederick Hall for the weekend, some students spent the night with friends while others opted out for a hotel close by. The third Burg Alert urged students to monitor emails for updates from the Residence Life Office.  

A second flood occurred on the first and second floors Sunday, February 10th, causing students to move out again. Close to 200 students had to be relocated for the remainder of the Spring semester.

Leading up to the unfortunate pipe burst, there have been reports of Brownsville not having hot water for the first two weeks that school resumed and later, complaints addressed the water pressure in the building coming off as too strong.

A former student suffered a pipe burst in their Brownsville room and lost personal property due to water damage. Despite this tragedy, the student never got any financial aid or reimbursement. The question remains, how could a new building suffer such damage? and could it have been avoided? since many students have reported buckets being left in the hallway to catch dripping water. 

FSU President, Dr. Ronald Nowaczyk, stated in his usual update of the week email; “We have had outside contractors on campus working with our facilities team to determine what caused the leaks and the steps we need to take to fix the problem and ensure that the wing of the building is safe moving forward”.

Interview with an affected student, Del Carden. 

Del Carden is a junior majoring in Law and Society with a concentration in Criminal Justice. He also holds minors in Sociology, Political Science, and Psychology. Alongside an impressive area of study, Del is an athlete playing for the Men’s Tennis team and while at practice, he received news of his dorm flooding.  

What roles did RAs play in helping and directing students? 

“Personally, for me, no one helped me move out, I don’t know if they helped anybody else out” Del Carden. 

Del mentioned going back to help his friends move out who lived on the fourth and fifth floors and he saw people whom he assumed to be RAs taking notes of students who had a place to stay or not. Del recalled being asked by an assumed RA if he had a place to stay, to which he replied he was not sure and was told he would be put down as a maybe. The assumed RA walked away after that.

He mentions that there was no effective plan to direct students causing him to take matters into his own hands by calling his parents for help; fortunately, they placed him in a hotel for the night. Later, he received an email of instructions and open access to Frederick Hall, but it was too late. After the night at the hotel, Del bounced from couch to couch staying with friends.

Where do you live now? 

“Now I’m in Edgewood” Del Carden. 

“We (referring to him and his roommate) got lucky and were able to move into Edgewood before everybody else applied” Del Carden. 

Most students have now moved to Edgewood as it is the next best option. Edgewood is an apartment-style dorm on campus that houses only Frostburg students but is not operated by the University. Edgewood Commons is owned by Maryland Economic Development Corporation and is managed by COCM (also known as Capstone on Campus Management). 

Edgewood informed its residents that they will allow affected students in Brownsville to move in and if a resident has an empty room in their unit, it will most likely be occupied. A total of seventy-eight students have moved into Edgewood since the partnership with Residence Life Office to relocate affected students.  

Are you getting any monetary reimbursement? 

“Last time I heard was, once you move everything out of Brownsville and return your key then the money will be told and dealt with” Del Carden. 

Brownsville residents have been informed that there will be reimbursement of payment for the difference in their chosen dorm. Affected Brownsville residents who move to a dorm such as Edgewood where meal plan cost is not required to purchase will maintain their meal plan for the rest of the semester.  

Below is a statement provided by Edgewood on the financial situation of impacted students: 

‘Housing Charges for the impacted residents will be prorated for the Spring semester, and a portion and/or all that proration will be applied to the account of the student to cover the prorated cost of Edgewood Commons for the remainder of Spring 2023. 

Students who receive financial aid will need to complete a deferment form, which has been shared with them via email. With authorization from the student, FSU will transfer funds that may cover up to all of the Edgewood Commons charges. All tuition and fees must be paid to FSU before any funds are transferred to Edgewood Commons; however, it is incumbent upon the student to follow up accordingly with both the Billing Office and Financial Aid concerning any credit that they qualify for.’ 

What help are you receiving from Residence Life? 

“The only thing we’ve really gotten from Res Life was that they’re sorry about the situation and that the options are you can go to Fred, Sowers and they’re going to help us move out this weekend” Del Carden. 

Although Residence life helped students move in the weekend after the flooding, some students, specifically athletes were forced to move during the week because of travel commitments.    

Where were you when the second flood occurred? 

“I moved back Sunday but only for like three hours and then it flooded” Del Carden.  

Del had to move back out and crash on a friend’s couch. 

Do you have any concerns or anything else you would like to share? 

“Teachers don’t necessarily know about the situation and our first priority, right now, has definitely not been school, so for me personally, I know my grades have been going down because of this, I haven’t been doing homework, because I’ve just been trying to find; where am I sleeping tonight?” Del Carden. 

“We wish there was more communication and better planning as it is a bad situation and I know people aren’t getting much information anywhere” Del Carden. 

Del also mentions that he hopes for better solutions and better ways to help students. He rates administrators’ response as poor because working with Residence Life only has been difficult. He highlights the difficulty of figuring things out and the cooperation of staff. Del feels the situation was not given the right amount of attention and was dealt with without any care.  

Link to watch live report: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CoftP_nBI4N/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=