I wanted to provide the campus community with some information and reassurances following the Sept. 2 Commentary by Matan Berman. The issues that he identified are not of the kind that pose structural challenges to the integrity of the building, but are, rather, cosmetic in nature. Nonetheless, these are indeed important and require amelioration.

I have reached out to Mr. Berman directly, to explain and to express appreciation that he took the time to contact the Facilities office.

In this case, we were already aware of the damage to the exterior stucco and had been planning to repair a few such areas on campus buildings. I apologized that due to the high volume of early semester tasks being addressed, the work on Terrace 10 was delayed.

To reiterate, the needed repairs do not involve any structural safety issues. The Maintenance Requests page website has information on how students can report both emergency and routine maintenance issues, and we encourage them to become familiar with this resource.

Finally, I want to address the editor’s note at the end of the Commentary, stating that, “The Office of Facilities has not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.”

The Ithacan sent an email to our office at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, asking “if you would like the opportunity to write a response or provide a comment on the subject.” If that invitation had been addressed directly to me and had it not been delivered mere hours before publication of the Commentary, I would have in fact been able to provide all of the above information prior to publication.

Dr. Timothy Carey
Associate Vice President
Office of Facilities