Students walk around the inside of the Ivan Hilton Science and Technology Building on the New Mexico Highlands University campus Wednesday. Ivan Hilton has reopened after being closed for more than four months. The building was closed on Sept. 3, 2024, due to chemical concerns.
The Ivan Hilton Science and Technology Building on the New Mexico Highlands University campus welcomed faculty, staff and students on Monday after shuttering its doors due to chemical concerns back in September.
Monday was the first day of the spring semester for the university.
NMHU President Neil Woolf said it feels good to be able to reopen the building during an in-person interview with The Optic on Wednesday. Woolf has visited Ivan Hilton “a number of times,” he said, including doing several walk-throughs with staff from the Las Vegas Fire Department as well as the school’s Environmental Health and Safety Department.
Woolf was at the building on Friday, Jan. 10, to welcome back faculty, he said.
Ivan Hilton was closed by the city of Las Vegas on Sept. 3 after campus police responded to an initial report of a chemical spill at the building. According to a press release from the university on Sept. 24, Ivan Hilton was closed “as a result of issues with the storage and maintenance of chemicals … and it currently remains closed.”
The New Mexico Environment Department Hazardous Waste Bureau inspected Ivan Hilton on Sept. 11 and found 16 potential violations, including chemicals and hazardous waste that was not stored or disposed of properly.
The NMED provided the university with corrective actions that could be taken to remedy the situation.
Reopening Ivan Hilton involved taking these corrective steps as well as removing the old chemicals from the building.
“By and large, getting those legacy chemicals out of there was our biggest hurdle,” Woolf said on Wednesday.
Several hazardous waste and safety trainings have been made available to NMHU faculty and staff. Also, structural changes have been made to the university’s Environmental Health and Safety Department, Woolf said, so that now its staff includes a chemical hygiene officer. EHS now supervises health and safety at Ivan Hilton. Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response Certification training – also known as hazwoper training– has been made available to EHS staff.
“I think it’s helpful that everyone knows what the standards and expectations are, and we will have continual reminders of those,” Woolf said of the training. “I think getting everyone on the same page on what roles and responsibilities we each have will ensure not only that Ivan Hilton, but that all of campus will remain a safe place.”
Kathy Jenkins, president of the NMHU Faculty Association and professor of exercise physiology at the university, said the university’s unions offered free OSHA 10 training to faculty and staff in December. This training taught basic OSHA standards so as to help faculty and staff identify hazards and know what must be reported. There are plans, Jenkins said, of having another OSHA 10 training soon.
“We’re working together to solve the issue, because it takes all of us to maintain a healthy, safe campus,” she said.
“It’s been a united effort between faculty, our unions, the university and the staff to get us to where we’re going,” Jenkins added. “Things are moving forward. … We’re really excited about that.”
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