Bestest asbestos practice?

Last week, Residential Programs and Services warned students moving into Briscoe, McNutt and Forest quads and Tulip Tree apartments that the insulation of their dorm rooms and apartments contain asbestos. For Briscoe, McNutt and Forest, this took the form of scripted warnings read by resident assistants. For Tulip Tree -- home to many international students and their families, who might or might not be conversant in English -- RPS issued written warnings. \n This represents a change in policy, as, for previous years, warnings about asbestos were printed in the handbooks issued to residents but not highlighted explicitly.\nThis change in approach by RPS is certainly a welcome improvement and has made students and their families much more aware of the (albeit, slim) health risk that they face. And yet, more could be done. Why, we wonder, did RPS wait until students and their parents were moving in before notifying them that the dorms contain asbestos? While some parents and students interviewed by the Indiana Daily Student were not worried about the hazard, others were not as sanguine, expressing their surprise and concern.\nNow, we understand that the asbestos in these residential facilities is not a tremendous threat -- it is not dangerous as long as the asbestos is intact and not inhaled (or ingested) and that possibility only arises if the rooms' ceilings are damaged. And RPS's examination of the issue has reported that even minor damage to the ceilings is unlikely to cause problems, as the plaster is only 1 to 10 percent asbestos. We also understand that asbestos removal is an expensive process and that IU is going beyond the requirements of Indiana law in its plan to renovate the dorms over the next ten years.\nBut, all that said, how difficult would it have been to get word out to the incoming residents and their families before arrival? RPS has the lists of who will be living in the dorms. The IU directory or admissions documentation (in the case of freshmen) should have students' and families' e-mail addresses -- what else would be needed? Such information could have even been included with the materials provided for students when they had to determine their housing preferences. Neither alternative seems beyond the capabilities of a major public research university. And given the official nannying we students receive regarding so many other health and safety issues affecting campus life, it seems odd that neither practice is already in place.\nWe don't believe that the lack of an early warning regarding the presence of asbestos will prove to be a matter of life and death, as any event capable of doing enough damage to send a dangerous amount of asbestos airborne would be very rare indeed. But forewarned is forearmed, and students should be made aware of all the facts in determining the place that they will live for nine months out of the upcoming year.