SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A week ago, American River College abruptly closed Davies Hall, impacting more than 6,000 students.
On Thursday, the president of the American River College faculty union was demanding answers and a town hall meeting with the chancellor of Los Rios Community College District.
The union president said teachers, staff and students were upset about the way they were made to leave the building. He added that, if the district knew the building was unsafe, then why wasn't there a plan in place to vacate the building?
Oranit Limmaneeprasert, president of the faculty union, is at odds with the closure of Davies Hall. He said staff and students were only given eight hours to vacate the building last Thursday.
"The main concern, there are a lot of unanswered questions about this concern... the timeline," said Limmaneeprasert.
That timeline goes back about a year ago when the state's regulatory agency that produces building codes reached out to the Los Rios Community College District.
"What they discovered is that during seismic events there could be issues with that type of construction. The notification went on to stress that there's been no collapse of those buildings, no failure of any of those buildings throughout the state over the last 60 years," said Mario Rodriguez, vice chancellor at Los Rios Community College District.
The Division of the State Architect notified the college of potentially unsafe buildings utilizing concrete "lift slabs," which included Davies Hall.
The district then had a third-party firm complete a review on Aug. 15 this year. After several meetings, the district felt the safest option was to vacate the building.
"Given the choice again, we still feel very confident that, although it was quick, putting the safety and health of our campus community was number one. It is going to always take precedence. And then, we'll work with all of our stakeholders to make sure we're mitigating impacts caused by a really unfortunate set of circumstances that we've been dealt."
The union president is now requesting a town hall meeting with chancellor Brian King on Sept. 22.
"He holds the answers to the concerns and unanswered questions that we have. And we would also of course like to know, did he share the information about the unsafe building with the campus administrators prior to Sept. 7," Limmaneeprasert said.
The district said it is trying to be as transparent as possible. They're unsure about holding a town hall meeting right now, but they said they are committed to hearing from anyone who has concerns.
As for the building, it's still in question if it could be repaired or if it needs to be demolished.
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