Randy Woodson: The Cancer Chancellor

CCAEJ Newsletter Issue 2024-08 (Cancer Chancellor)

Author

Campus Community Alliance for Environmental Justice
December 13, 2024

We demanded health and safety for our campus community

Last month, members of Campus Community Alliance for Environmental Justice 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 the full cover letter and petition on our website.

Students tack up 34-page long signed petition on the locked doors of Holladay Hall, where Chancellor Woodson’s office is located.

Woodson has one week to respond

Chancellor Woodson has until December 20, 2024 to respond with a written plan of how the university will address each of our six demands. Send a message to the Chancellor letting him know that we except to hear from him by that deadline. Let him know that you stand behind the people in our campus community by including the following information in your message:

Chancellor Woodson,

I stand behind the demands delivered to your office by Campus Community Alliance for Environmental Justice on November 19, 2024. I want to know your plan to address these critical issues: 1) communication and compensation for each person exposed to PCBs in Poe Hall; 2) immediate campuswide environmental testing for PCBs and other hazardous materials; and 3) a permanent environmental safety plan for the NC State campus and surrounding community.

I await your response to the petition by the deadline of December 20, 2024.

University ignores Poe Hall graduate student workers

As we await Woodson’s reply, graduate student workers on campus have contacted us with concerning reports about NC State leadership excluding them from key health and safety measures related to Poe Hall. NC State Provost Warwick Arden and Vice Chancellor Charles Maimone have sent key updates about Poe Hall access over the last few months to faculty and staff in the College of Education and Psychology Department WITHOUT contacting graduate student workers who also have Poe Hall offices and maintain teaching responsibilities after being relocated. NC State University leadership is intentionally excluding these members of our campus community from safety communications and from the NIOSH Health Hazards Evaluation that is assessing the cancer cluster associated with Poe Hall. Graduate student workers ARE university employees and many had offices and teaching responsibilities in Poe Hall. It is unacceptable to leave them out of any communications or health studies related to their toxic workplace.

Keep in touch

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. Email us at [email protected] to tell your story and get more involved.