Chancellor Randy Woodson told NC State’s Board of Trustees Friday that while the first phase of environmental testing in Poe Hall is complete, it’s going to take time to find definitive answers about the source of contamination and implement strategies to mitigate it. 

Woodson said the University is working to understand the environment in the building, which closed in November after preliminary tests detected the presence of chemical contaminants linked to cancer, but it needs to administer multiple rounds of testing. 

NC State shared results from the first phase of testing, which tested air samples and surfaces in the building with the HVAC system off, on Feb. 8. 

Woodson said the next phase of testing will happen with the HVAC system turned on, as Technician previously reported. In a message to the NC State community Feb. 12, Woodson said the University will provide more frequent updates on the investigation, even if there’s not new results to share. 

“The main issue for us is, we really have to get our community focused on, ‘This is going to be a challenge for a while,’” Woodson said Friday. “And we’re going to have to continue to think about, ‘How do we support the College of Education, how do we support the Psychology Department in an environment where it could be a while before we understand what we need to do to this building and what the solution to that is and get that implemented?’”

Woodson also said NC State has reengaged with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, which is part of the CDC, after NIOSH closed NC State’s initial request for a Health Hazard Evaluation. 

The CDC told the News & Observer that NC State requested NIOSH pause the first evaluation while the University was in the process of its internal investigation, and NIOSH chose to close it.

“NIOSH doesn’t really have a mechanism to pause an investigation while things like that occur, so they stopped the investigation, but now it’s back on,” Woodson said.