Part of Campus Ministry Office Drenched by Flood over Thanksgiving Break
Image Courtesy of CUA Campus Ministry
By Anthony Curioso
As CUA students traveled to their homes or other places for Thanksgiving break, a significant flood occurred in the Campus Ministry office in Caldwell Hall, discovered around 1 a.m. on November 27.
Senior theology major Andrea Suarez and senior architecture major Jared Jagiello, two students who had remained on campus for the break, discovered the flood and reported it to Facilities and DPS.
The main parts of the Campus Ministry office that were affected by the flooding were the office of Sister Anunciata Freitag, the Assistant Liturgy Coordinator and Sacristan in Campus Ministry, and a little-known entrance to the main Campus Ministry office near where a new elevator is under construction in Caldwell Hall that will provide wheelchair access to St. Paul Chapel.
Suarez commented on how she and Jagiello discovered the flood.
“Jared and I were praying and playing Gregorian chants in Caldwell Chapel since no one was there,” Suarez said. “As we were leaving at around one o’clock in the morning, we heard a waterfall-like sound in the basement where the construction is, and we knew something was amiss, so we went to look for it and called Facilities and DPS to deal with the situation.”
DPS responded to the flood because of concerns about the Facilities Department response time. When a Facilities representative arrived with the University-contracted plumber, they required Suarez and Jagiello to direct them to where the flooding was due to their unfamiliarity with the location and layout of the Campus Ministry office.
Jared Jagiello, a senior architecture major, commented on what the plumber found to be causing the flood.
“When the workers constructing the new elevator had finished for the day on Tuesday, apparently someone left a water valve open,” Jagiello said. “Had I known that was the issue, I could have shut the valve off myself because I have spent enough time in Caldwell to know how the plumbing works.”
Upon their return from the Thanksgiving break, multiple students reported that the water that poured into Sister Anunciata’s office had mostly dried.
Suarez commented on her gratitude at the timing of their discovery of the flooding.
“Divine providence allowed Jared and me to discover the flooding when we did,” Suarez said. “If we hadn’t noticed the flooding and no one else reported it for several days while everyone was gone, the Campus Ministry office would likely have been underwater when students returned.”
DPS ran a brief test of the Caldwell Hall fire alarm system once students had returned to campus on December 2, including a test of the alarms within the Campus Ministry office.
As of this writing, the completion date for the elevator is still unknown, but an email from Facilities with the latest updated construction schedule called for temporary flooring protection to be installed in the area on October 10 and official elevator mechanism installation to begin on October 14.
