Pipe burst at Hickman Hall floods multiple offices

This weekend a pipe burst at Hickman Hall on Douglass campus, flooding multiple offices at the University.

According to Rutgers spokesperson Neil Buccino, a heating unit froze, resulting in a burst pipe. He said that mitigation efforts are underway and that no classes were disrupted as a result. 

Richard Lau, a professor in the Department of Political Science, who has an office in the building, said that the flooding has caused an interruption in his work life. 

“Virtually all the offices on the first floor and the third floor of Hickman Hall, which is the Political Science Department, are flooded and you can’t get into them right now as they are working to dry things up,” he said. 

Lau said that there was a crew of about 20 people in the building on Monday, drying the floors, shampooing the carpets and looking for mold. 

“It’s a huge disruption for the faculty and for students who will have classes from faculty and won’t be able to have office hours for a while ... I think we’re sort of waiting to see what the damage is going to be and how things are going to be handled. Right now, you’re not supposed to go into your office,” he said. 

Lau said that this is the third major flood that has occurred in the Political Science Department in Hickman Hall in the last three years.

“The tragedy of it all is that there isn’t any money for maintenance in the budget anywhere. Everybody knows the building is a disaster, and fixing it is just throwing money away. But no one has the $50 million to blow it up and build it again,” he said.