‘Life safety concerns’: FAU to quietly open Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute after 4-month closure
After a four-month closure caused by a building malfunction, the $35 million FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute on FAU’s Jupiter campus will reopen Monday for classes.
“While work will be ongoing on various aspects of building operations, I am pleased to report that the life safety concerns within the building have been permanently resolved,” an FAU internal email reads.
But, the building will not be fully open.
The building has not been cleared for research or lab animals, which could take up to eight and a half months, Wendy Ash Graves, the director of the FAU Office of Environmental Health and Safety, said in her email.
Graves’ email did not explain why the building repairs could take up to eight and a half months. The UP could not reach university officials for comment by the time of publication.
In August, the UP obtained an email via public records that FAU officials wouldn’t explain further.
“Our current state is to relocate occupants (by 7/30/23) and then animals (ASAP) because the building pressurization is unstable and any condition which knocks the HVAC off line (fire alarm, power fluctuation, or otherwise) causes the potential for entrapment,” Ash Graves wrote in an internal email on Saturday, July 29.
The pressure inside the building became so strong that people would get trapped in rooms because they couldn’t open the doors, someone who works in the building told the UP in August. The person declined to be identified out of fear for their job.
Jessica Abramsky is the Editor-in-Chief of the University Press. For more information on this article or others, you can reach Jessica at journalistjess22@gmail.com or tweet her @jessabramsky.
Latest University Press
- FAU’s new presidential search committee aims for January 2025 candidate listThe first Florida Atlantic University Presidential Search Committee meeting took place Wednesday, officially kicking off the search for the university’s next president after a year-long hold. The Presidential Search Committee Chair, Sherry Murphy, led the meeting to discuss important elements of the new search process, including the duties of the Presidential Search Committee, the implications...
- Racing into the depths: FAU’s Human-Powered Submarine team brings home 2nd place trophyThe Human-Powered Submarine Team (HPS), an ocean engineering club at Florida Atlantic University, competed in the bi-annual European International Submarine Races (EISR) in Gosport, England from June 22 to July 6. HPS, composed of seven aspiring young FAU engineers, faced off against 11 university teams from around the world in a multi-day event that tested...
- ‘A constant reminder’: MSD graduates from FAU frustrated with timing of building demolitionEditors Note: This story was updated on June 20 to add a statement from a Broward County Public Schools official on their plan to replace the building. On June 15, crowds of people gathered behind the campus fence of Marjory Stoneman Douglas (MSD) High School to watch the demolition of the 1200 Building, the site...
- FAU community reacts to historic Trump convictionOn May 30, a New York 12-person jury found former U.S. President Donald Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records. The unanimous decision has ignited diverse reactions within the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) community. Many consider it a historical moment that could significantly impact the current political climate, the broader societal landscape and...
- FAU experts offer tips for hurricane seasonAs the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season set sail, starting June 1 and ending on Nov. 30, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecast predicted an 85% chance of above-normal activity. NOAA named a range of 17 to 25 storms for this season, powered by the La Niña weather patterns and above-average ocean temperatures. On...
- BOT Chair Piero Bussani announces the new FAU Presidential Search CommitteeOn Tuesday, Piero Bussani, Chair of the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Board of Trustees (BOT), announced via email to the FAU community the formation of a new 15-member Presidential Search Committee. This initiative marks the revival of the presidential search process, which had been on hold for nearly a year. Bussani said the formation of...