Last Friday, September 26, Vice President and Treasurer of the College Carlene Miller sent out e-mails to faculty, staff, and students containing the 2001 Asbestos-Containing Materials Report. The report lists on-campus buildings containing the dangerous substance. Asbestos is a material that was commonly used in construction before its recognition as a health hazard in 1979. Since most of the Claremont Colleges’ structures were built well before the government’s ban on asbestos, most of them contain it in their insulation or in other construction materials.

According to a University of Minnesota report on the health effects of asbestos, inhaling or ingesting free-floating asbestos fibers can cause cancer and lung disease in humans. Because of widespread agreement among medical experts on the dangers of asbestos, it is against Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations to use asbestos in construction. California laws dating from 1988 also require property holders to notify residents of asbestos on-site, so Pomona has issued an updated asbestos report every year since. The report is available in the lobby of Dean Quinley’s office.

In order to release fibers into the air, asbestos-containing materials have to be damaged in some way. Once disturbed or worn down by time, asbestos becomes friable and releases dangerous fibers into the air. Whenever asbestos on campus has been found to be friable, renovation projects have removed these materials.

To ensure workers’ safety during renovations, the school has made safety procedures, outlined in the Asbestos Operations & Maintenance Program, available to its employees and contractors involved in renovations. Copies of these procedures are available at the Environmental, Health and Safety Office of the Claremont Colleges. "Certified technicians in the CUC Physical Plant Department" monitor the air around asbestos-containing materials for free-floating fibers, according to Miller. "There is always third-party project supervision by state-certified personnel," she said, to ensure that proper safety standards are met.

Residence halls and academic buildings at Pomona are among the structures that were built using asbestos, according to the report. Despite the ongoing effort of the college to eliminate asbestos in the process of renovation, some sources of the mineral still remain. Insulation materials on steam and water piping still contain asbestos in Bridges Hall of Music, Clark I, Clark V, Crookshank Hall, Cook House (the faculty residence), Frary Dining Hall, Millikan Laboratory, Pendleton P.E. Center, the Science Library, Seaver South, Sumner Hall, and Thatcher Music Building. Most of these pipes are located in basement or attic areas.

Asbestos containing materials in more accessible areas have already been removed, for the most part, by past renovations. The only exceptions to this are the linoleum floor in the storage area on the first floor of Gibson Hall and in the copy room at Kenyon House. Several buildings also have asbestos containing material sprayed into ceilings.

Scripps College, Claremont-McKenna College, Pitzer College, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont Graduate University, the current site of the Keck Graduate Institute, and various buildings of the Claremont University Consortium were all included in the asbestos report, and all contain considerable amounts of asbestos. The responsibility for coordinating removal with the physical plant lies with each individual college.

The report advises residents not to disturb these asbestos containing materials, but states for reassurance, "All building occupants should bear in mind that the presence of asbestos containing materials in their building, undisturbed, does not represent any health hazard."

In an e-mail to faculty, staff and students, Dean of Students Ann Quinley said, "We believe that immediate correction of hazardous conditions, the removal of ACBMs [Asbestos Containing Building Materials] during renovations, and the effective use of the operations and maintenance program will provide an asbestos-safe campus environment.