Icy Roof Asteroids

So you're walking through Plymouth State's frigid winter campus, trying to get indoors and out of the wind, when a long yellow strand of caution tape warns you about falling ice from the rooftops. If you're like everyone else, you ignore it, maybe not walking directly beneath the roof as you duck under the tape and be on your way thinking, "If one of those icy roof asteroids falls on my head the moment I walk beneath it, it's meant to happen anyways." Everyone who's grown up in New England knows not to walk under treacherous icicles, it's just another part of being outdoors, but why is there caution tape inside the HUB?

"Are the floors wet?" Freshman Madison Rockwell wondered when asked why she thought the area in the upstairs HUB was blocked off.  Rachel Burgard, also a freshman, took a wild guess saying "are they remodeling?"

Despite the rumors and confusion surrounding the issue, The Associate Director of the HUB, Kerry Keating had the answer. "This years weather, as you know, has been up and down so much that the HUB had an enormously large ice chunk that developed all along that east section of the building between the Tower Room and the Courtroom (where the television is).  Their concern was that when warmer weather came, that chunk of ice could drop at any moment and we'd never really be able to tell when."

If you have walked past the HUB earlier this month, you may have noticed the large chunk of ice and dangerous overhang of snow Keating was referring to. Beneath the massive chunk of ice was a low traffic area where it would be highly unlikely for it to land on a student, but aside from the "can never be to safe philosophy," there's another reason for the caution.

"What was of concern was the fact that if the ice dropped, it could blow inward toward the glass and shatter it," Keating said. "That's why we blocked off that area and it's a good thing we did because the ice did exactly what they worried it would."

Thursday, Feb.  17th, it fell and shattered an entire pane of glass into the HUB. "Thankfully no one was hurt but glass fell down below and that's why we had that small area downstairs near the [Fire Place Lounge] blocked off for a day. We wanted to be sure we had all the glass cleaned up and no one went under there until the pane above was fixed thoroughly."

Keating also mentioned it is very dangerous for somebody to go up there and try and remove it themselves. So the possibility of chopping down the giant ice block was out of the question due to serious risk of injury. Instead Keating mentioned how there is "no way to get rid of these chunks of ice, other than to wait for them to drop." 

The ice problems falling from the roof, along with the massive chunk shattering the window in the HUB are something Keating says happens every year, but it is just more noticeable this year due to the ice storms matched with the warm weather. Keating mentions that there is still a large amount of ice hanging over the upstairs HUB area near the television. The tower room and court room are both still easily accessible but for the safety of yourself and others, please take the caution tape around campus seriously, even when indoors.