We are disappointed that a student had to live in a UCF affiliated apartment that was making him sick for almost two years.
Sean Skopek's story about contacting the employees, managers and owners of Pegasus Landing regarding the mold is not a positive one for the university.
After countless doctor appointments, a trip to the emergency room and other complaints from residents, the owners of Pegasus Landing finally agreed to move Skopek and test the apartment for mold.
College Park Management, which manages Pegasus Landing, should have handled this issue when Skopek first brought it to their attention. They are lucky he took his Target gift card and new residence as a parting gift instead of contacting a lawyer.
Instead of fulfilling his requests CPM avoided the situation until UCF demanded them to test for mold. They hired an industrial hygienist, and just like Skopek, predicted the apartment building had mold.
And not just mold in any old place.
The mold was found in a closet that contains an air handler, which ended up affecting the apartments of 20 other students. Skopek and the other residents all had to move due to the mold.
Although UCF does not own the property, Pegasus Landing is affiliated with the college. It is also staffed by UCF resident assistants, which means that employees of your university deliberately avoided helping a sick student.
We are not implying that the resident assistants, who are also students, made the decision to blow off the mold issue. Maybe they were just following orders, which often is the case in scenarios like these.
The point, though, is that someone in charge of making important decisions for UCF affiliated housing decided it was best to avoid a serious health issue.
What is most terrifying about this recent case of mold is the other cases that might exist.
If this one determined student had given up and moved out, current and future residents could have lived in that building and become sick from the mold, too.
Let this be a lesson to those who manage living areas: If someone complains about this kind of thing, please, take them seriously.
What good is a building management office if it doesn't look out for the residents?
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