Waking up to unfamiliar male voices in an all-female apartment can be frightening. But for Lily Peters, that was the least of her worries. As she left her bed to go investigate, instead of feeling the soft carpet beneath her feet, she felt wetness.

“And as I stepped out of my door, I stepped into a giant puddle of water that was coming from my hallway,” Peters said.

Peters lived in Willkie Center Apartments with three other roommates. Unfortunately for the residents, this wasn’t the first time they had to deal with a flood in their apartment.

Back in December of 2021, the week of final exams, their apartment flooded for the first time. The residents found brown water in their bathtub, along with soaked carpet and ripped-up baseboard.

The apartments are located on the eastern side of the center building at Willkie Quadrangle.

Even though Peters knew the feeling of having her apartment feel like a pool, this time it was different.

Hours after the flood, Residential Programs and Services told the residents that they needed to move out of their apartment. In several emails, RPS said they would help move them to an off-campus apartment complex, or they could stay in a different on-campus apartment.

So, they got to work. The residents shoved their belongings into trash bags as best as they could because movers would be there within hours. But as they finished packing, they received an unusual email from the Residence Life Coordinator at the apartments.

“I also want to inform you from the direction of supervisors above me that if you have not yet left your apartment you can stay,” the email read. “Our custodial team have cleaned up the water and it has been evaluated that your apartment is in livable conditions by our maintenance team.”

Peters said the email stunned her and her roommates.

“I was like, I can’t imagine you were able to make two completely different drastic decisions in such a short period of time,” she said.

The first email, sent by an RPS representative, told residents that they needed to move out of their apartment.

Peters' roommate sent the first email, which expressed their concern about the mold.

This email, sent at 11:31 AM, told the residents that due to the extensive damage, the move would be permanent.

Another one of Peters' roommates sent an email expressing her concern about mold.

An email from Peters to the RPS representative confirming the move.

An email from the RPS representative confirming the move to a new building.

On March 8, after limited inspection, RPS sent an email informing the residents that they could stay in the apartment if they chose.

Even though the email said that the custodial team cleaned the carpets and that the apartment was ‘evaluated’, that was not the case. The carpets were still damp and the baseboards were still ripped up. No one had been by to run mold tests, either.

Mold had been a concern for the residents after the first flood as well. Since December, Peter’s roommates and RPS exchanged many emails about mold concerns. Peters said that mold tests never transpired.

“And I’m sure, by now, especially after this has happened twice, that there is mold growing in [the apartment],” Peters said.

IU Spokesperson Chuck Carney said RPS and Environmental Services did testing after the residents moved out. If the mold found wasn’t of a ‘harmful nature’, the previous residents would not need notification.

Peters and her roommates conducted several mold tests which had shown some sort of growth in the apartment, but Carney said that

“The thing to remember is that there’s mold everywhere,” Carney said. “So these home tests might show mold in this very room or any room that you’re in because it is literally everywhere.”

According to Carney, they replaced carpet and walls after the residents moved out. Peter’s roommate did request a carpet replacement in December, but it was never done.

He said that situations like these happen on campus and that RPS does its best to solve them.

“This happens at all the residence halls to some extent,” Carney said. “You have to be sure that when a heavy weather event happens that there isn’t something unfortunate that happens in this way and it’s just part of being on campus and part of what RPS does on a regular basis.”   

In response to the abrupt change of directions from RPS, he said the situation was fluid and resulted in mixed directions.

“It’s uncomfortable for everyone involved that lives in these places, but we appreciate their understanding as we’re trying to move this stuff around and get things solved as quickly as possible,” Carney said.

Peters and her roommates have since moved to an apartment complex off-campus. IU will not welcome residents back to the two top floors of the building until they finish more renovations this summer.