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Deadline started: Chancellor Woodson has 27 days to respond to community demands
CCAEJ Newsletter Issue 2024-07 (Petition Delivered)
Campus Community Alliance for Environmental Justice
November 22, 2024
NC State administration has demonstrated repeatedly that they will only deal with on-campus environmental harms when pressured by the media, teams of lawyers, and the campus community. People who worked and studied in Poe Hall had been issuing complaints and asking for environmental testing for decades before the University actually closed the building. An employee complaint directly led to the building closure in 2023. We can not afford to wait for the University Administration to act responsibly on its own.
Marching to the Chancellor’s Office on the anniversary of Poe Hall's closure
Students and CCAEJ members marching from Poe Hall to Holladay Hall on Tuesday, November 19.
This Tuesday, members of Campus Community Alliance for Environmental Justice gathered in front of Poe Hall to reflect on one full year of continued University mismanagement in the wake of Poe Hall’s closure. We then marched to Holladay Hall to formally deliver our demands for a safe campus and retribution for the hundreds of people made sick by toxic levels of PCBs in Poe Hall. Read an excerpt from our cover letter to Chancellor Randy Woodson:
November 17 marks one year since the closure of Poe Hall. As we reflect on this anniversary, we recognize that the University has not made sufficient progress to address the harm posed by PCBs on our campus. Your administration’s response to this crisis has contributed to a climate of mistrust regarding the safety of the NC State campus and disappointment about the treatment of current and former students, faculty and staff. Please find enclosed a list of demands, which to date has been signed by 1,285 members of the NC State Campus Community who assert that the University must take steps towards true accountability for the health and safety of the people - past, present, and future - who learn, think, work, and play on our campus.
Petition Delivered Despite Locked Doors
Upon our arrival, the doors to Holladay Hall, where the Chancellor’s office is located, were locked and none of the several people we observed inside would open the door as we knocked. And so we unfurled all 34 pages bearing the signatures of our petition and taped it to the front door of Holladay Hall. We also delivered a .pdf version of the petition via email, and a second physical copy via signature-confirmed shipping. In media stories in the following days, the Chancellor’s office has confirmed receipt of the petition.
Chancellor Woodson has until December 20, 2024 to respond with written plan of how the university will address each of our six demands. We will be watching.
Students tack up 34-page long signed petition on the locked doors of Holladay Hall, where Chancellor Woodson’s office is located.
Read all about it:
Petition Update: 1,313 people have signed as of today, November 22, 2024. The petition remains open for signatures and you can continue to sign and share it widely.
Keep in touch
Students and CCAEJ members hold signs outside Holladay Hall while delivering the petition on Tuesday, November 19.
Have you been affected by the toxic conditions in Poe Hall or other campus buildings? Do you want to join us in taking care of our campus community? Follow the Campus Community Alliance for Environmental Justice on Instagram or email us at [email protected].