Hey Cuties,

I am SO excited to see your beautiful faces back in Colby. It has been too long, and Colby was getting lonely. I recognize that this has been a crazy experience, and many of you may still have lingering questions. Please see below for some important information –

Q+A Damaged Items

We will be hosting a Q+A in the Colby Cove on Wednesday, November 6^th at 4:30 PM to answer any lingering questions that residents may have about damaged items. This will mostly impact the 3^rd floor as these rooms received the most damage. Please make an effort to attend to have any/all questions answered for you regarding damage to personal belongings.

3^rd Floor Personal Items

The cleaning company that we contracted is still cleaning up some items on the 3^rd floor. If you arrive at your room and things are missing, it is likely that they will be returned in the upcoming days. Please let me know if you need any temporary linens while we wait for personal items to be delivered to you.

• Our friends in Student Activities have created goodie bags for you! They are located in the lobby. Please feel free to grab one 🙂🙂

Rugs

The cleaning company will be delivering all rugs that were removed from Colby tomorrow starting at 10 AM. They anticipate that these deliveries will be complete by Thursday afternoon at the latest.

Smoke Alarm Installations

Maintenance is still installing smoke alarms into rooms that were impacted by the water. Please note that maintenance will be coming into your room today or tomorrow to finalize this installation. Once this is completed, our maintenance team will need to test all of the alarms. The testing will occur tomorrow at 10 AM so please plan accordingly.

Access to Colby Hall

The front doors to Colby Hall are open! Please begin using the front entrance. Access to the emergency exits and basement will be removed this week so please begin to utilize the front entrance.

Welcome Back Partyyyyyyy!!!!

We will be hosting a welcome back party NEXT TUESDAY (November 12^th at 9 PM) to celebrate the return of the cuties! Be there!!

Thank you,
Shelby Giammattei (she/her)
Colby Hall Director
Housing and Residence Life | Texas Christian University
s.t.hines@tcu.edu | (817)257-4122

Dear Colby Residents,

Today marks 11 days since the water line break disrupted your lives and caused a major facilities incident for TCU. I’ve been in daily consultation with our Housing team, and have visited Colby several times to assess the progress. I’m happy to report that remediation and reconstruction efforts have been aggressive and focused, allowing the return of residents as their spaces are completed.  First-floor residents returned to their rooms on Tuesday, Oct. 29, and second-floor residents will return today, Nov. 1. The third floor sustained the most damage but is being rebuilt and we are hopeful that everyone will be back in their Colby Hall spaces by Wednesday, November 6.

At this point, here are a few things to know:

• Our restoration crews continue to work on a 24 hour/7 day schedule to get the building completed restored by November 6.
• We hired a professional cleaning service to clean bedding, carpets and clothing affected by the water, with the exception of those who indicated that they did not want our cleaning service to do so.
• TCU will offer nightly-rate room credits to all impacted students for the number of nights they were unable to access their rooms in Colby Hall. These credits will be posted to the November 11 student account statement.
• If you incurred additional expenses or had damaged items, we encourage you to submit a claim to your insurance provider. For those who opted into the Grad Guard room insurance program, information on how to file a claim is provided below.

We understand the stress this situation has caused and encourage you to continue utilizing TCU’s resources, including the Counseling Center, Dean of Students Office, Religious and Spiritual Life, and, of course, the Housing staff.  For students staying in local hotels, we continue to have staff on-site in the evenings doing programs and connecting with students.  A calendar of events has been shared with those students.

Throughout this difficult time, I’ve witnessed incredible resilience and positivity. Students are supporting one another, local families have opened their homes, and our Housing staff members have worked tirelessly to assist, often staying late and giving up weekends to ensure you’re informed and cared for.  This situation has shown the character of resilience, strength, determination, and sense of community that defines TCU.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Sincerely,
Kathy Cavins-Tull
Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs

Thank you for your patience!  You can now return to your room in Colby Hall – TOMORROW, NOV. 1 any time after 10 am.!  (All Second Floor Residents)

Important items to note:

There is still active work being done in certain sections of the building, and this work is occurring 24/7. Please avoid those areas, even when there is no active work happening.

Rugs may have been removed to be professionally cleaned and will be returned. It might be closer to overall project completion when all carpets are returned. In a handful of rooms we took wet clothing, mats or other items to be cleaned. Those items are locked in the Housing office, and we will deliver them to your rooms tomorrow no later than mid-afternoon.

Every effort was made to set your room up as it was prior to this incident. It is possible that some things were moved to a different location in the room, so please check in drawers or desks of your roommate in case an item was placed back incorrectly.

Getting back to your room:

If you are currently in a temporary space on campus, please make sure to check out of your temporary room as soon as you are able to do so. You will report to the front desk of your temporary community to turn in your key and get checked out of your temporary space. If you do not see someone stationed at the desk, please call the duty number listed at the front desk/entrances of the building for assistance with your checkout.

If you are in a hotel space, please check out of the hotel as the reservations at Spring Hill Suites ends at checkout time on Friday..

If you have any access issues to your Colby room, please contact the RA on Duty (817-257-7881).

For any facilities concern, please report it through the QR code around the building or report it to the Colby hall office.

We are so glad to have you back in your Colby room. Have a great weekend back in your home.

Craig Allen
Executive Director, Housing & Fraternity/Sorority Life

Students, be sure to check your email for details on some exciting Colby resident events created just for you, right at or near your hotel! Whether you’re looking to join Taco Tuesday, enjoy breakfast at Jake’s, paint and pizza night, grab cookies, or cheer on the Horned Frogs at a Game Day Watch Party, there’s something for everyone. Plus, look out for movie night, ice cream social, and board games. We’ve planned a week full of opportunities to relax, connect, and enjoy.

Dear Colby Residents,

Thank you once again for your patience, and thank you for following our guidelines on visitors in Colby this weekend. There were many events, programs and one heck of a football game this weekend, and we hope you were able to enjoy those experiences.

Building Repairs

There has been significant progress on the first floor, and ten rooms are completed for student return. All of those students have received instructions/information on returning to their room. We are hopeful that tomorrow we will have news on a return date for the rest of first floor.

Second floor work in rooms will start winding down in the next few days, but there is still work to be done in hallways and the center hall lounge. We will know more about a timeline for return to second floor in a few more days.

Third floor rooms have the most restoration work to be done, and that work is underway. We remain optimistic on our original timeline putting return at Nov. 6, if all goes well.

Textiles cleaning

Third floor items were taken and will be returned when rooms are completed. First and second floor items went to our laundry vendor as there were far fewer items needing to be washed and cleaned.

General Information

Anyone that indicated a need for a hotel space has received an email about hotel arrangements.  We have two locations for hotel assignments, and students have the hotel name, address and information about their stay.

We have moved hall desk operations to the basement, and staff are there Noon to Midnight to help students. The RA on-call number has been and continues to available to all residents. As soon as we have the main entrance area returned to us, we will resume our normal desk operations location.

Residents will see air filtration systems in corridors. As the construction happens those parts of the building are sealed off to minimize dust in the air getting outside of work zones. The air filtration is in place as an extra measure to keep air in halls fresh and clean. Air in the HVAC system is pulled from outside, then filtered and cooled before entering rooms.

This has been a difficult facilities incident to manage, and as we work on the building, please remember there are resources for all of you. Our Religious and Spiritual Life office has drop in space and people happy to listen and lend support. Our Counseling Center staff are ready to listen and our Dean of Students office will continue to help students. Please seek out help if you need it.

Thanks again for all you are doing to support each other. We will stay in touch, and ask you to please forward these emails to parents/family members and remind them to see the web page for all email updates.

Craig Allen
Executive Director, Housing & Fraternity/Sorority Life

Good morning,

Our morning update includes timelines on returning to specific rooms and hotel information.  We have deadlines for this information, so please read carefully.

For impacted students on 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd floor, we are arranging hotel accommodations for you.  Hotel arrangements begin Sunday, October 27 at 3pm at a hotel near campus and will be available to you until your room is ready to return to. Please fill out this form by 3pm today to indicate if you need a hotel or not (students have the link in their email).  We will provide further information to students regarding check-in times, transportation to and from the hotel, etc after they fill out the hotel form linked above.

Once we receive notice on rooms that are completed and students can return, we will contact students individually to notify them.  We anticipate first floor residents will be the first to hear from us about a return next week.

We cannot thank you enough for your flexibility and understanding.  We want students to be in their on-campus homes, and we are monitoring closely to ensure that occurs.

With care,
Rachel Anne Hopper
Director of Housing and Residence Life
Texas Christian University

Colby Residents,

We are very pleased with the progress in the building, and we are grateful for your ongoing communication and flexibility.

There are significant improvements since the incident occurred on Monday afternoon.  The remediation process is on track.  This afternoon/evening, we will have hydroxyl generators and additional HEPA scrubbers throughout the building.

Our contracted team is packing up textiles in specific rooms on second and third floor to professionally clean and return to the rooms once complete.  We also had a number of you ask about headboards, and the on-site team will dry, clean and sanitize those.  Before rooms are returned to students, items in the room are cleaned and sanitized.

We believe we will have some students returning to their spaces soon, and we anticipate students on the second and third floor returning within two weeks.  We are currently working on hotel spaces for those who need it past this weekend.  We do not have access to hotel spaces until after this weekend.

In order to help communication efforts, we created a hub for communication, which includes our emails and Zoom recordings.

We will continue to provide all Colby resident email updates on overall building information and individual communication on specific room impacts.

With care,
Rachel Anne Hopper
Director of Housing and Residence Life
Texas Christian University

Dear Residents,

The impact of the water line break continues to be challenging, but progress is being made. Please share this information with your parents or family members to keep them informed.

Building Access
Continue to use the north entrances/exits to access your rooms. If your room is not listed below, you are welcome to return if you haven’t already.

Temporary Accommodations
We continue reaching out to students individually to ensure that everyone who needs a place to stay has one. Some students have gone home or are staying with friends. We have set up beds/mattresses in lounges across several halls and are expanding these options as needed today.

We understand that temporary accommodations aren’t the same as being in your Colby room, but our goal is to keep students on campus, close to classes, friends and other campus resources.

Hotel availability near campus is very limited this weekend due to Homecoming and an unusually high number of visitors.

Next Steps
Our contractors are continuing to pack up rooms so that they can remove damaged ceilings and walls, and continue drying the building. We’ve made significant progress over the past 24-48 hours, which is a positive sign.

We’ve also received questions about mold. Mold requires moisture, a food source (like wet drywall), and no airflow. To prevent this, we have dryers, fans, and air filtration systems in place. The remediation experts handling the situation have seen no signs of mold growth.

Any wet clothing, bedding or carpets from affected rooms will be professionally cleaned.

Students in impacted rooms who want to grab any last items to wash yourself should pick those items up TODAY before 2 pm. Textiles (bedding/clothing/shoes/belts/bags/purses) will be taken off site to be professionally cleaned. The cleaners will be removing items and they will not come back until the room is fully repaired. 

For all impacted students, we will hold an in-person meeting TONIGHT at 8 p.m. in the BLUU Auditorium to provide updates on project timelines and answer any questions about temporary living arrangements.

Thank you for your continued patience and for the care you are all showing to each other.

Sincerely,
Craig Allen
Executive Director, Housing & Fraternity/Sorority Life

Colby residents,

We are grateful for your communication and flexibility as we navigate the building updates.  Here is where we stand right now-

We need people to stay out of the containment areas closed off with plastic.  As the team dries out locations and tries to contain cleaning efforts, it will be critical to remain out of their way to do so.

For those relocating to a temporary space, we understand this is not ideal.  Our goal is to keep students on campus, close to your friends, classes and dining options.  The temporary spaces are just that- temporary; a place to sleep and place items.  The entire campus is your home, and we know this is a temporary assignment. Students that indicated a need for temporary housing will be emailed with their assignments by 5:00pm; although many have already been communicated with.  There are linens available at the hall offices of our communities should you need them.  We will continue to communicate about timelines on specific spaces and reentry to spaces.

IT will be in and out of the building to identify any WiFi access issues.

Reminder that entry and exit for Colby is on the northwest and northeast doors (Sherley side), and no entry/exit from the front of Colby.

Here is the recording from our Zoom meeting earlier today.  Please view it for any updates from the 11:30 meeting.  View Recordings

We will provide updates as we have them.  Thank you again for your understanding.

With care,
Rachel Anne Hopper
Director of Housing and Residence Life
Texas Christian University

Good morning,

We have an update regarding Colby. Several rooms remain impacted, but about half of the building will be able to return. Please read the following information carefully as we outline next steps.

Building Access:
Access through the front doors is closed. Entry and exit to the building will only be through the northwest and northeast entrances. Security guards will be stationed at these doors, and you must show your ID to gain access.

Room Repairs:
If you are in one of the rooms listed below, you will not be able to stay in your room during repairs, which will take several days to complete.

If you need to retrieve items from your room, please come to Colby today, Oct. 22, 2024 between 11 a.m. –1:30 p.m. Additionally, let us know your housing needs by 2 p.m. today by completing this form and indicating whether you will stay with a friend or need on-campus accommodations. We have spaces available across residence halls and lounges with mattresses. Every student who needs a place to stay will be accommodated. No student should feel like they need to figure this out alone. All temporary accommodations are in secured spaces, either with a mattress and bed frame or a mattress.

If your room is not listed above, you are able to return to your space. Please remember to enter the building through the northeast or northwest entrances, and show your ID to the security guard. If you need to do laundry, exit the building and re-enter on the west side basement level. If you’re staying in your Colby room and are willing to welcome a displaced student, please let us know. We can provide a mattress for them in your space.

Thank you for your patience and understanding during this challenging time. We appreciate your cooperation and are here to support you.

Lead the Field,
Rachel Anne Hopper
Director of Housing and Residence Life

Texas Christian University

Dear Colby residents,

This will be the last update for tonight, however if you need assistance please contact the on-call phone number for Colby Hall, or call TCU PD and ask for the Housing staff on-call.

We have provided accommodations for the night to all who have asked for assistance. Students may still go their Colby room if there are personal items they need for the night. TCU PD will have security guards posted overnight at Colby and the restoration contractor is working through the night on water clean-up and drying.

TCU Housing staff will have a morning meeting with Facilities and our contractor to learn more about impacted rooms, and next steps for all residents. We are hopeful that many residents will be back to their rooms tomorrow. We anticipate some students will be displaced longer, and we hope to have more details for those students tomorrow.

Please share this with your families, and as always please ask us for help when needed.

Thanks to all of you who are helping each other, the TCU Horned Frog family always makes me proud!

Sincerely,
Rachel Hopper

Dear Colby residents,

This will be the last update for tonight, however if you need assistance please contact the on-call phone number for Colby Hall, or call TCU PD and ask for the Housing staff on-call.  Your Hall Director, Shelby Giammattei, will be officing out of the Housing and Residence Life office located in the TBPW Commons Building should you need to see her in-person.

We have provided accommodations for the night to all who have asked for assistance. Students may still go their Colby room if there are personal items they need for the night. TCU PD will have security guards posted overnight at Colby and the restoration contractor is working through the night on water clean-up and drying.

TCU Housing staff will have a morning meeting with Facilities and our contractor to learn more about impacted rooms, and next steps for all residents. We are hopeful that many residents will be back to their rooms tomorrow. We anticipate some students will be displaced longer, and we hope to have more details for those students tomorrow.  Please wait for an update from us on next steps.

Please share this with your families, and as always please ask us for help when needed.

Thanks to all of you who are helping each other, the TCU Horned Frog family always makes me proud!

With care,
Rachel Anne Hopper
Director of Housing and Residence Life
Texas Christian University