TO: Sisters of Alpha Chi Omega Lambda Chapter
Parents of Lambda Chapter members
Syracuse University Greek Life staff
Syracuse University Panhellenic and Interfraternity Council representatives

FR: Alpha Chi Omega House Corporation, Lambda Chapter

RE: The rest of the story

DA: June 9, 2009

As most of you are probably aware, the Alpha Chi Omega house at Syracuse University was recently featured in a local newspaper article. The story also was picked up by other local and regional media. The story concerned an asbestos testing and monitoring company that was indicted by federal authorities. The media accounts say this company has been charged with misconduct over testing of some buildings—including our house, some other buildings at Syracuse University and some at LeMoyne College.

This news story left a lot of us wondering: Were we duped by this testing company? Was our house safe at the time this happened? Is it safe now?

Because you care about the answers personally—or talk with people who will hear about this story down the road—we want you to know what happened. Most important, we want you to know that based on our knowledge at the time, and our re-examination in light of this indictment, we have no reason to believe that any of our sisters, their families or our house staff or guests faced any exposure to any hazardous conditions in our house.

Here’s what happened and why we feel assured:

This situation came about when we had some restoration work done in the basement of our house in the summer of 2007. As we understand it, it’s not unusual for a historic property like ours to have asbestos-containing materials. That’s how things were built in those days, and people are in and out of such buildings every day. We also understand that as long as these materials are undisturbed, they pose no risk to occupants. Because our restoration project involved the potential that some of those materials would be disturbed, our general contractor did what he was supposed to do—he involved what were said to be experienced and reputable companies for removing, monitoring and testing for asbestos. That way, we’d be sure that the project proceeded safely and the final result would be suitable for occupancy.

It is our understanding that the company that’s now been indicted tested our house and found it acceptable. But our contractor had a concern about those reports, so he contacted the authorities, and then had the work redone and retested by another firm.

Why are we confident our building meets, and always has met, safety standards? There are two reasons: When the second testing company tested our building before redoing the work, the test results already met standards. However, just to be certain, the second company re-cleaned and retested the affected area afterward. Again, it met every government standard. That’s why we’re confident that none of our undergraduate sisters, members of their families, or the public faced any exposure to any hazardous conditions at any time. We would not have let anyone live or work here if we believed otherwise.

We will, of course, cooperate fully with any investigation to make sure that any misconduct by the indicted firm is dealt with according to law. We and other potential victims of such misconduct deserve no less.

To reassure any of our sisters, their families, or our staff members, we also will be happy to provide copies of the building test reports should you want to see them.

Thank you for your attention to this matter and your continuing support of Lambda chapter and Alpha Chi Omega. If you have additional questions, please direct them to me at LambdaHCB@AXOlambda.org. If we should learn any other important information concerning this matter, we will pass it along.