Honors Hall apartments evacuated due to septic clog

By Kara Armstrong

At approximately 10 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 19, campus police officers began knocking on the doors of Honors Hall apartments, instructing tenants to gather in the parking lot. There, Desiree Reasoner, Assistant Vice President of Residence Life, Housing and Dining, and other members of housing staff waited with the bad news: due to an unresolvable septic clog, students needed to evacuate their Honors Hall apartments.

Tenants were encouraged to spend the night with friends or family. Residence hall visitation restrictions were suspended so students could stay with first-year friends. If a student had nowhere to go, they were assigned a double-occupancy room in Bonner Hall, which they would share with a same-sex roommate, either their pre-existing roommate or a randomly assigned one.

Honors Hall tenants were promised free meals at Cub Café, since the emergency closure meant they would lose access to their kitchens. Ticketing was suspended on any vehicle with an Honors parking tag as some students temporarily relocated their cars.

After being debriefed on the situation, students were given the next 50 minutes to gather their belongings.

“They could have let us know earlier that there was a possibility we would have to leave,” said one frustrated tenant. “We could have had more time to figure something out.”

The evacuation of Honors Hall was preceded by two email updates regarding the septic clog; the first, sent at 2:47 p.m., predicted a one-hour fix.

When the issue remained unresolved, students were further advised to refrain from using water at their apartments and use water facilities at the MSU instead.

Eight hours after the initial email, the clog was still unresolved despite plumbers working throughout the evening. Reasoner stated she was notified at approximately 9 p.m. that the clog was beyond repair for the night. Plumbers planned to return on Friday with camera equipment that would allow them to get an eye on the clog’s exact location. They hoped to resolve the issue by any means necessary—even breaking the floor in the boys’ bathroom of Honors Hall to access the blocked area. 

At the time of the evacuation, water was beginning to flood the ground floor of Honors Hall, a space furnished with office spaces, classrooms and educational resources.

Students were made aware that if the clog migrated, plumbers may need to access the bathrooms in their apartments. In the event that their apartment would be entered, students would not be notified.

Reasoner stated that every year there is an issue with the Honors Hall septic due to students flushing items such as baby wipes, kitchen grease, floss and even a pair of underwear. Thursday’s clog was the worst she had seen in her time at KU.

Despite the severity of the clog, Reasoner shared her hope that the situation would be resolved by the following day.