Modern Decay

A former resident of Canaday Hall--the newest Yard dorm--conversing with two administrators asked whether his freshman home had "come apart at the seams." One administrator answered that yes, indeed, it had--shortly after its construction. The inside pasteboard walls, the administrator explained, had begun to cave in shortly after Canaday opened in 1975.

Today, problems with mice and noise, along with "cheap" walls and peeling paint, particularly in bathrooms, follow past difficulties with leaking roofs and occasionally erratic hot water. "The roof is a continuing, lingering problem," William H. Marquess, senior advisor to Canaday, says. The leaky roof seems to be a design defect, many officials say. Specifically, a stainless steel roof and gutter system expands and contracts with fluctuations in temperature, creating cracks, Frand A. Marciano, superintendent in Buildings and Grounds, says. "Some of the roofing problems are going to be cleared up this summer," with the realignment of gutters, Marciano adds; in the past, efforts at preventing leaks have been limited to caulking and the removal of heavy snow accumulation by workmen.

"We think that with the realignment many of 'he problems will be resolved," Marciano says, a statement that only the residents from the Class of 1985 will be able to judge. By fall, the Candady horror story machine will haunt unsuspecting freshmen. It remains to be seen how many new tales will arise from experiences with mice, cracked floors, weak walls and seeping rain water.