Courtesy of Ella Chu

Students and faculty looking to enter Kresge Auditorium for classes and events earlier this week were instead greeted with fans and dehumidifiers after a water leak was discovered that forced the space to close from Monday onwards.

According to Associate Vice President for Facilities and Capital Projects Jeff Tuttle, the trouble began on Friday when a small water leak was discovered. Wet flooring material was extracted, and a fan was put in place to aid the drying process and repair the damage.

However, early Monday morning, Facilities’ hopes were dampened when they found that the leak was more substantial than they initially thought. According to Tuttle, this likely was a result of the intense storms last weekend that impacted the Brunswick area.

“Water was coming up through small cracks in the concrete floor, most likely due to a very high water table after several abnormal rain events,” Tuttle said. “ServPro [a cleaning company] was called that morning to start remediation which included wet-vac extraction and the deployment of industrial dehumidification equipment.”

According to Tuttle, the damage will not prevent future use of the auditorium. He explained that while some events scheduled in Kresge had to be moved, none were permanently postponed or canceled.

“The severity of this incident was isolated just to Kresge,” Tuttle said. “As of Tuesday afternoon, the drying process was progressing nicely, and we anticipate having the equipment in the space for at least another day to ensure it is dry. If needed, we will extend the deployment. Damage at this point appears to be minimal with perhaps some flooring that will need to be replaced along with some mouldings.”

Some faculty and students were impacted by the damage, including Visiting Assistant Professor of Religion Jeannie Sellick. According to Sellick, a notification about the leak was sent on Monday, leading her to cancel her Tuesday morning class.

By Wednesday afternoon, the space had already hosted its first event of the week, a conversation with Dr. Larry Lindsey hosted by the Bowdoin College Conservatives and sponsored by the Economics Department. Facilities will continue to clean up and repair any damages to the auditorium before the space is fully returned to the public.