The odor wafts down the stairwell from the top floor. The musty, dead air lingers on floor four and intensifies in the west hall.

But humidity and a foul odor are of little concern, Mell Hall residents said, compared to the vines of black fungus growing around their dorm room windows.

Rick Gibson, director of Residential Hall Education and Services, said the dorm on Baxter Street does not have a problem with mold.

“The students in the room were not moved because of a mold problem but because of a steam leak,” Gibson said in a phone interview Monday. “I hope this story goes away because it raises an issue that from my perspective – if it’s more of an issue than it is now – it’s not my feeling that it needs to be played out in The Red & Black.”

But Resident Hall Director Chris Lemasters told a different story, according to Mell residents.

Paige Porter, a freshman from Bogart, said Lemasters held a dorm meeting confirming mold infestation and distinguishing the prevalent fungus as black mold – which he said was harmless – as compared to brown or orange mold. Efforts to reach Lemasters Monday were unsuccessful, but three other residents confirmed Porter’s story.

“[Lemasters] told us we have black mold,” said Britney White, a freshman from Roberta. “If it was brown mold it was toxic, and we had to move out. Since it was black, it was OK.”

Porter said she was consistently sick last semester with a sore throat and headaches. White said she and several other fourth floor residents have reported similar symptoms for months.

But physical symptoms were only a fraction of the problem.

One night, Porter said she woke up and her comforter was soaked. Water was dripping from the ceiling onto her lofted bed. She has since begun sleeping on her futon. Linzi Machini, a freshman from Winston, also said she had a leaky ceiling over her bed.

Porter said her room was so humid after Thanksgiving break that “you could feel the moisture in the air … our books started curling up.”

Porter, White and Machini all said visible condensation gathers daily on their walls and windows. It is that condensation, in combination with humid conditions, that can create mold, according the Environmental Protection Agency’s Web site.

In White’s room Monday, black grime was visible on the base of the walls, and an orange-colored fungus appeared below a sheet of plastic that was nailed over a former pipe leak. There were also signs of mold in Porter’s room – oozing from her window frames and ceiling.

One unlocked vacant room under construction had the walls replastered. A fungus was splattered above the windows. White said the residents recently moved out.

Porter said her father contacted Lemasters asking for documentation that proved the mold in the dorm wasn’t toxic, but Lemasters never provided documentation.

Lemasters later visited Porter’s room, she said, and discouraged her from involving her parents in the future. He told her the problem in Mell Hall has been ongoing for years, she said, and that Lemasters’ friend, a former resident, never fell sick from the mold.

Two weeks after winter break – almost two months since the problems in Mell Hall began – Mell’s fourth floor residents were told to move all their furniture into the center of their rooms by the next day. Porter said workers – the same people who regularly cleaned the bathrooms and hallways – attempted to remove the mold with wash rags and cleaning liquids.

For some, like Ashlynn Mozley, a freshman from Douglasville, and Machini, the cleaning treatment worked, and the mold disappeared – though the humidity and odor remained. But Porter said the mold returned in full force to her room.

Among other problems Mell Hall residents reported were crumbling walls and faulty heating and air units.

“The sheet rock on the walls started bubbling because there was moisture on it where the pipe burst in the study room,” White said.

Porter also reported a faulty air unit. She said the unit intermittently “spits black and green chunks” into her room, and at one point she let the spewed residue mount on her floor to “prove it was an issue.” White said Mell’s heaters set off the smoke alarms.

Gibson said he was unaware of residents’ complaints about leaky ceilings and mold.

“You are providing me information I am not aware of,” he told The Red & Black in response to such complaints. “I am not aware of any other problems that have been reported by students. If it was reported to people in the hall and they did not communicate that, that’s another problem I have to look into,” he said.

He said a Florida vendor called him Monday – in response to Monday’s Red & Black article – asking to help with his “mold problem.” Gibson said, “It is a concern to me that parents and students may think we have a mold problem in one of our buildings [because of the article].”

Gibson attributed the humidity and foul odor in Mell to a busted steam pipe, and he said workers, who began construction last Thursday, were well into fixing the problem.

“When I was in the room last Thursday where the steam leak is being repaired, the contractor had already repaired the steam leak,” he said. “They were already getting ready to start rebuilding the wall.”

Construction began months after the steam pipe broke because the work order had to be contracted out, budgeted and approved before commencement.

Meanwhile, Mozley said her mother could not visit her dorm room because she has mold allergies. The last time her mom visited, “she had to use multiple inhalers,” Mozley said Monday.

“I haven’t wanted to make a big deal out of it because I don’t want to have to move,” she said. “Look at all the stuff in here.” Mozley indicated the overstuffed drawers, bookshelves, closets and other heavy furniture packed into the small room.

White said roommates have to split up if they move out, because there are no rooms available with two vacant beds. She said she was avoiding moving because she had only just begun to settle down into her new room and grown close to her roommate.