Cal Poly Humboldt students forced to move out of Campus Apartments due to mold 

164, that’s the number of students who were moved out of the Campus Apartments at Cal Poly Humboldt. The first round of residents, a total of 27, received a knock on their door on Jan. 19 alerting them that due to a potential mold issue, they would have to be relocated. 

Vice President for Enrollment Management & Student Affairs, Chrissy Holliday, sent out an email to all students on Jan. 19 stating that:

“At the end of the Fall semester, the University was made aware of a potential mold issue in a recently vacated room of Campus Apartments, prompting the University to follow its mold investigation protocol. The results of air sampling, received in recent days, led the University to bring in a professional consultant who performed additional testing throughout the Campus Apartments on Friday, Jan. 17.”

The fall semester ended Dec. 20 and the Spring 2025 semester started Jan. 14. 

Freshman Samuel Ray, zoology major, said students had four days to be fully moved out. 

“I got sick a couple times last semester, and I think that it’s because of that [mold]. And while I was moving out. I think that I did get sick moving out,” Ray said. 

After reviewing test results on Friday, Jan. 24, the professional consultant recommended that the remaining 137 students should be relocated. 

Students like Ray are getting moved to other housing on campus such as College Creek, Canyon, the Hill, Creekview and Cypress. There was no official picking process for students and they were sent an email with their new room assignments. 

Second year student, Savannah Rivers, shared that in the housing office students were provided free moving supplies such as boxes. Students could also sign up for time slots that provided them with movers to transport their boxes to their new room. 

“It was just all very rushed and I don’t even think that they were trying to find the best resolution for students. It was kind of just like, let’s find the simplest way out of this,” Rivers said. 

She shared that initially housing split her and her roommate up, which Rivers said made her uncomfortable to have to live with a stranger. After a long chain of emails with Housing, Rivers and her roommate were able to find a double together in Canyon. 

But for students like Senior Jonnie Terry, relocating has not been very smooth. 

Terry has an emotional support animal cat and was initially placed in a triple in Sunset, the freshman dorms. This placement, Terry said, was not going to work out because of the stress it would put on her cat so she was forced to find off campus housing. 

“I was here for weeks before school started. I could have planned then. Now it’s like this is my thesis time. I’m supposed to be doing surveys, and I’m having to look for rentals last minute and find furniture, a bed. I don’t even have a bed. I have a sleeping bag,” Terry said. 

With rentals being available on the first of the month Terry is crashing at her friend’s studio where she is on the floor with her sleeping bag and cat until she can find a place. 

Terry shared that she is receiving no help from the University. She was offered a full refund of $3,600 but was told it would take six to eight weeks until she would receive it. 

“So it was just unexpected, and I am only here for a couple more months, and I wish I’d just had more time. If I knew during winter break, I could have made accommodations,” Terry said.

Currently, the students that were relocated from Campus Apartments are receiving an additional $20 on their C-Card, free seven-day meal plans (if they did not have one prior), and their rent is staying the same. 

Subsequently, in an email released by Holiday on Jan. 25, the Campus Apartments will be demolished. It is scheduled to happen as soon as the new off campus housing, located near the intersection of St. Louis Rd and Hwy 101, is ready for occupancy this summer. The official name of the new complex is Hinarr Hu Moulik.