Meher Jain (SFS ’29) expected a typical college move-in experience when she arrived at Georgetown University. Instead, she found the closet door of her Copley Hall room covered in mildew.

Jain, who believed the microbial growth was mold, said facing facilities issues so early in the year was particularly irritating. 

“We were just all so frustrated about how this could have possibly been missed,” Jain told The Hoya. “Why weren’t these rooms inspected? What else could be wrong with a dorm? Where else could there be mold in this room? Because they clearly hadn’t looked at it at all before they let us in.”

Jain said facilities personnel told her the room was unsafe to live in and necessary cleaning could take up to two weeks. Jain and her roommate were temporarily relocated to Village C East (VCE), which is traditionally a sophomore dorm, while the department addressed the issues.

Devika Mathur (SFS ’29), Jain’s roommate, said the pair lost out on formative social experiences.

“The first week of freshman year is when you can bond with your floor and you’re trying to make friends,” Mathur told The Hoya. 

“We were just trying to adjust to college, and we were isolated in the sophomore dorm, where we didn’t really know anybody,” Mathur added.

Students and parents across the Georgetown community have expressed concerns about the prevalence of mold in campus facilities, raising broader issues about dorm inspections, maintenance timelines and university communications.

A university spokesperson said Georgetown is committed to ensuring a safe living and learning environment for all students.

“The safety, health and well-being of our students is our highest priority,” the spokesperson wrote to The Hoya. “We work through every request as diligently and expeditiously as possible.”

Georgetown’s Office of Environmental Health & Safety (EHS) and Facilities Management Office assess reports of suspect microbial growth (SMG), the university’s designation for potential mold or fungal colonization, and dispatches trained staff to remediate the issue accordingly.

Mathur said university resources for SMG-related problems were insufficient to address her concerns. 

“It was just really slow,” Mathur said. “You put us in a moldy dorm and you didn’t check it or anything before we moved in. You’re not giving us anything.”

Mold School

Like other higher education institutions with older facilities, Georgetown is predisposed to SMG issues. 

Lucy Zipf, an environment and international affairs professor, said Washington, D.C.’s humid climate also makes the university more susceptible to mold issues. 

“We are in quite a warm, moist climate, especially during the summer,” Zipf told The Hoya. “There are year-round things we can think about for indoor mold growth. All fungi love a moist, warm environment.”

“If there is a mold issue, it needs to be fully removed and addressed, because mold can reproduce with spores, which are these tiny reproductive structures,” Zipf added. “Making sure that there’s not any foothold that a new mold community has in a habitat is important.”

While mold spores are always present in the air, exposure to high concentrations can lead to a stuffy nose, a sore throat, coughing, wheezing, burning eyes and skin rash, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). For immune-compromised individuals, reactions can be more severe. 

Felicity Goudie (CAS ’29), who discovered suspected mold in her Harbin Hall air conditioning (AC) unit in October, said she developed a persistent cough after finding the SMG, which cleared up after cleaning. 

“We had been living there for a little over a month,” Goudie told The Hoya. “I sent a text to my parents that said, ‘Found mold in AC vents over the weekend in my room, probably the cause of my persistent sickness and coughing, got it cleaned today.’”

Ginny Marshall (CAS ’29) said she developed an illness just before discovering SMG in her Darnall Hall AC unit. 

“I developed a pretty productive cough, and it persisted for over three months. It’s still lingering a little bit right now,” Marshall told The Hoya. “I used to wake up every morning coughing. It would take an hour for me to clear out my lungs every morning, and then I would really start my day.” 

Marshall said she had to seek medical attention and receive university approval for a new housing placement in New South Hall. 

“My doctor recommended that I seek out a new environment in order to try and mitigate the cough a little bit and try and suppress it a little bit,” Marshall said. 

“It definitely took a while,” Marshall added. “I had to go through medical accommodations, and that took a considerable amount of time.”

Gabrielle Ellis — an adjunct lecturer at Georgetown’s Earth Commons Institute, an initiative promoting the study of sustainability and environmental stewardship — said the university must improve ventilation maintenance to effectively reduce the SMG recurrences. 

“This is a key environment for bacteria to grow,” Ellis told The Hoya. “There’s also quite a lot of older buildings that don’t have the best circulation structures to deal with this climate, to reduce the humidity inside buildings.”

“It just demonstrates that the circulation systems that Georgetown is using are not necessarily up to date or functioning optimally,” Ellis added.

A university spokesperson said Facilities Management’s inspection process involves an evaluation of the affected area’s environmental conditions, in addition to more immediate remediation. 

“The on-site assessment includes a visual inspection for the presence of SMG, and also includes the monitoring of space temperature and relative humidity to ensure that those building conditions are not contributing to mold formation,” the spokesperson wrote. “Finally, the space is reviewed to determine if moisture has entered the space, and related repairs are scheduled as necessary.”

It is not standard university practice to test or further identify SMG species, and the CDC does not recommend routine sampling. Instead, EHS suggests students consult a physician if they experience SMG-related symptoms.

Goudie said when facilities personnel came to address her work ticket, they put on personal protective equipment (PPE) before cleaning.

“When he came, he put a mask on before he entered our room, which was kind of crazy because we had been living there the whole time with no masks, no PPE, nothing,” Goudie said.

Ellis said protective clothing can be helpful when dealing with unidentified SMGs. 

“If a worker should wear a mask, probably a student living in the space should wear a mask,” Ellis said.

Marshall said other students shouldn’t have to deal with the same health issues she experienced.

“I wouldn’t want to be living in those same conditions and have to restart this whole process of trying to heal my lungs again,” Marshall said. 

Breaking the Mold 

Students said university communication regarding SMG issues was not straightforward, citing delayed responses and follow-through.

Mathur said she did not receive updates from the university while facilities addressed her room’s issues.

“There was quite literally no communication during those two weeks about any updates to our dorm,” Mathur said. “Whenever we wanted updates, we would have to ask our friends, or go into the dorm itself to see how things were going. We had to be very proactive about that, and the university was not transparent with us at all.”

While the university originally agreed to help her and Jain move back into their dorm after repairs were completed, Mathur said they moved themselves back in after struggling to get in contact with Residential Living.

“It was very performative,” Mathur said. “On the first day, they were like ‘We’re gonna do everything in our power,’ but then it seemed like they forgot about it.” 

Jain said she was surprised by the delays and poor communication, given the number of administrators she spoke with to resolve the issue. 

“I definitely think the school has a really big problem with their administration and their bureaucracy,” Jain said. “We had so many different people that we had to talk to.”

“How do you have all these people in administration and nobody could respond to our email?” Jain added. “Who’s supposed to do that?” 

Mona Sze, whose daughter lived in New South in 2023, said she struggled to reach the correct administrators when her daughter’s work tickets reporting SMG issues went unresolved. 

“It took repeated calls and emails to the housing department to get someone to come and look at it, and in the end, all they did was paint over it,” Sze told The Hoya.

“The only reason I found it was on some Facebook page where everyone was talking about mold,” Sze added. “People were like, ‘Who do I respond to? Nobody gets back to me’ and then somebody posted this one contact.”

James Baust (MSB ’27), who found SMG in his first-year dorm in 2023, said submitting a single work order did little to elicit a response from EHS, which conducts initial SMG assessments within two business days, according to university policy.

“Originally, we submitted one, and nothing really happened,” Baust told The Hoya. “So we made a couple more, and eventually they came out, which is standard for the beginning of the year, because they’re so backlogged.” 

Norah Yang (MSB ’29), who found SMG in her AC unit and on her chair in Harbin this past fall, said she was concerned the removal of SMG was not thorough enough. 

“I called maintenance, and they came in. They looked at it, they took a Clorox wipe, they wiped it off and they told me that I would be fine,” Yang told The Hoya. “I, personally, did not agree with that.”

Yang said, in addition to the limited cleaning process, the lack of communication from facilities left her unsure about the response timeline.

“I don’t want to be living with mold spores in my room,” Yang said. “Now, I feel so much more terrified than I felt before. I didn’t know when they were coming back.”

“It was a lot of uncertainty,” Yang added.

Sze also said the SMG in her daughter’s dorm was inadequately treated.

“They came in and painted it, which is not really treating the old issue,” Sze said. “It’s just hiding it.”

Yang said the university should be responsible for removing SMG and ensuring the quality and upkeep of student dorms.

“I feel like it was the school’s responsibility over the summer to make sure that the dorms are prepared for the first-years or the students that are moving into them,” Yang said.

Jain similarly said the university should be more proactive about addressing issues with SMG. 

“I hope that in the future, for their sake, something changes,” Jain said. “I hope things like this don’t happen to other students. In the event that it does, it is often on the student to be extremely proactive in reaching out to the university constantly, which really sucks.”

Out with the Mold, In with the New

Students say they were impacted by SMG issues beyond their immediate health and displacement consequences. 

Mathur said she struggled to build friendships on her floor after moving in two weeks into the semester. 

“It did impact the potential of making closer bonds with people on our floor,” Mathur said. “It kind of sucks because that’s a common initial friend group.”

“A lot of my floormates are really close with each other, and there is that little bit of disconnect,” Mathur added.

Baust said SMG in his dorm impacted his academics and strained his lifestyle. 

“That impacts school work, for sure,” Baust said. “It definitely impacted my roommates’ sleep, and mine as well. I couldn’t go to sleep while he was coughing.”

“It was really brutal, because it would cause a lot of issues with energy levels and waking up actually refreshed,” Baust added. 

After their experiences with SMG and mold, some students say they do not plan on relying on the university to address future issues.

Jain said her experience eroded her faith in university housing and facilities.

“We know that we can’t really rely on housing going forward,” Jain said. “We’re gonna have our own mold cleaners.” 

Yang said she thinks the university should have taken more proactive action.

“I wish the university knew that there were problems and that they could have resolved them before we moved in,” Yang said. “I think the dorms for next year are probably going to be more of the same.”

“It puts stress on the students when it’s really the school’s responsibility to get it done ahead of time,” Yang added.

Baust said SMG prevention should be a priority for the university, especially considering the high cost of housing, which ranged from $12,082 to $20,500 for the 2025-26 academic year.

“We pay so much for just housing in general,” Baust said. “Health and safety is a core need.” 

“If you aren’t really having that fulfilled as a student paying $90,000 to a school, then it’s not a good look on facilities or housing in general for Georgetown,” Baust added.

Jain said clean and safe housing is a fundamental part of the student experience, and the university must improve its response. 

“More than just the educational aspect of Georgetown, the living situation, the food situation, all of these fundamental parts of living on a four-year college campus are just as important,” Jain said.

“I hope in the future that the university is better at communicating with students and resolving issues in a timely manner, because it’s extremely important,” Jain added. “It can make all the difference.”

This story was updated Feb. 1 to correct the context of a quote and clarify a statement about university resources.