By Katie Northcott, News Director
Seven students and their families have filed a lawsuit against Sewanee the University of the South, alleging the students faced health complications due to toxic mold in their dorm.
According to the original complaint, students Liza Bandy, Jenna Ballard, Hannah Crawley, Hollyn Fox, Abby Lee, and Cassie Nicotera were happy, healthy, high-achieving students prior to the 2024-2025 school year. However, as the school year progressed the girls began to notice symptoms like a persistent cough, nose bleeds, lightheadedness, and unexplained fatigue.
The fatigue and illness caused most of the girls to fall behind in their course work and struggle in their sports and other extracurriculars. For a few of them, normally enjoyable and mundane tasks, like walking to class became an ordeal. Doctors eventually traced the symptoms to toxic mold poisoning.
“Students at the University of the South have the right to expect safe air in their dorms. And when parents pay $75,000 per year for tuition, room, and board, they have the right to expect that the University will provide safe and habitable housing,” the first paragraph of the lawsuit reads. “And yet for years, Sewanee has neglected its dorms to the point that they became a running joke amongst students. Sewanee continued to place freshmen in Johnson Hall–a dorm long known for its infestation with toxic mold–causing life-changing illness to many of the students entrusted in their care.”
The mold problems in Johnson Hall were well-known on campus and were documented in a series of articles from The Sewanee Purple, a student newspaper. The articles were titled “Sewanee: The School of Mold? A Critique of Residential Life,” “School of Mold Episode II: Mold Strikes Back,” and “Helplessness and Health Scares: The Story of the Johnson Refugees.”
According to an open letter from student Sloan Rogers published in the Sewanee Purple, this is not the first time students have expressed concerns about Sewanee’s dorm buildings. McCrady Hall allegedly became home to a raccoon and sustained a flea infestation during the Fall 2023 semester.
“As a school more than 160 years old, it is to be expected that some buildings are old and worn,” one Sewanee Purple article reads. “Squeaky doors and old brown carpet add a quaintness I’m sure many students appreciate, and the outer appearance of most dorms is cause for awe. But management of mold and pesky animals falls on a department that doesn’t seem qualified to solve these safety concerns.”
According to the Sewanee Purple articles and the lawsuit, the school was aware of the mold problem before the 2024-2025 school year. In January 2024, the University ordered the two residents of Room 7 in Johnson Hall to evacuate due to mold.
In August 2024, the University allowed freshmen to move into the dorm although some rooms remained empty due to moisture dripping from the walls. Liza Bandy and Hollyn Fox moved into the Room 29 of Johnson Hall, which was under one of the empty rooms.
On Sept. 29, 2024, Bandy returned home to Nashville for medical treatment and parental support after experiencing weeks of escalating illness. She had visited the University Health Services multiple times. After Bandy left, Fox discovered mold in the room.
According to the lawsuit, mold testing on Oct. 3, 2024, revealed that Bandy and Fox’s dorm room contained 224,000 spores per cubic meter of Penicillium/Aspergillus, a level unfit for human habitation.
The mold problem was so severe that the university evacuated all 54 members of Johnson Hall on Oct. 5, 2024, according to the Sewanee Purple.
“The previous evening Residential Life emailed announcements that [Johnson Hall] was being shut down because mold had infested the building so everyone in Johnson would have to move immediately into temporary housing,” the Sewanee Purple reported.
At the time the lawsuit was filed, Bandy was still unable to return to her studies due to continued health problems. In the original complaint, other plaintiffs reported lingering symptoms like residual brain fog, anxiety, and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS)-like symptoms.
The lawsuit charges the university with Negligence; Negligent Hiring, Supervision, and Training; Gross Negligence, Willful and Wanton Conduct; Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress; Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress; Private Nuisance; and Violation of the Tennessee Consumer Protection Act.
The lawsuit comes as universities nationwide grapple with safety concerns in aging dorm buildings. The University of Tennessee in Knoxville closed one dorm in 2018 due to mold while Ohio State University is facing a lawsuit after students allegedly discovered mold and mushrooms growing on the walls of a dorm building behind wallpaper.
The post Students File Lawsuit Against University of the South Alleging Mold in Dorms appeared first on Thunder Radio.
