I learned I was exposed to toxic PCBs for the ~4 years I was inside Poe Hall in January of 2024. I now know I was exposed to levels of PCBs at a rate of 3,880 times higher than the EPA deems safe for humans.

Since being poisoned inside Poe Hall, I have become a full-time community activist. I’ve had to because of NC State’s deliberate indifference.

Deliberate indifference is when an entity like NC State knows about a substantial risk of serious harm to others but consciously disregards that known risk and chooses not to take reasonable steps to prevent harm. It is the conscious decision to ignore a known and significant danger.

Here’s one example of the University’s deliberate indifference:  

Students know NC State closed Poe Hall. Many think that means they are safe from exposure to PCBs. However, the exteriors of multiple buildings on NC State’s campus, including Poe Hall, have tested positive for PCBs and pose a risk to public health and the environment.

Poe Hall’s exterior tested 340 times higher than EPA’s safe limits.

H. Hill Jr. Library tested 440 times higher than EPA’s safe limits.

Under the Toxic Control Substances Act entities like NC State are instructed that they should take interim measures like temporary encapsulation. This means making a temporary fix, covering materials with plastic and securing with duct tape at a minimum, until abatement can be done. This has not been done to any building on campus since NC State found PCBs on the exterior of buildings eight years ago.

Also, because Poe Hall hasn’t been encapsulated, it is both a public health and an environmental health crisis. 

On Page 6 of NC State’s Brief in Opposition to Monsanto’s Motion to Dismiss and Motion to Stay, there is this paragraph:

“Analytical results from sampling further indicate that PCBs from these building materials have leached into soil and interior and exterior substrate materials that are porous surfaces (e.g., brick, masonry, concrete, or wood) at concentrations requiring removal and/or remediation (e.g., encapsulation or imposition of secondary physical barriers). The concentrations and locations of PCBs pose a direct and imminent threat to groundwater.”

There are many buildings on campus contaminated with PCBs, including five residence halls. There are ~39,000 students enrolled at NC State. They walk by, sit beside and study in these buildings daily.

Why after ~8 years does NC State continue to endanger students’ health? Especially since the University administration knows ~700 are ill or dead from PCBs already. And that almost 100 of those ill are children whose mothers were inside Poe Hall and passed PCBs to their children in utero or through breast milk. 

If you are an NC State student, the parent of a student or an alumni, there are some very bad facts that you need to know.

1. If you become ill because of exposure to PCBs, NC State is not on your side. To this day, no one from NC State has spoken with me or any alumni about our health. Despite having databases of student transcripts, alumni and employee records, the University hasn’t proactively contacted anyone that they were exposed to PCBs inside Poe Hall. I only found out that I was poisoned by high levels of PCBs because of local media, not the University.
2. As future alumni you are not covered by worker’s compensation like faculty and staff are. God forbid you get sick years later as I did — hiring an attorney to seek justice will be your only recourse to getting answers.
3. And to get those answers, you will have to fight NC State by conducting public records searches. But also know, NC State stopped answering requests for records last year. Attorneys, media and alumni have requested hundreds of records and those requests have gone unanswered. 
4. If you have to seek justice through the legal system you’ll find there is a very strong Pack culture that will work against you. It’s cult-like. Members of the Pack have called me a liar, a drama queen, a diva, a grifter waiting for a payday, a bitter woman and much worse. Just for standing up for myself and hundreds of others and asking tough questions and demanding answers from the leaders of our “Pack.” 

After reading and absorbing all the facts, ask yourself a few questions:

Are ~700 women, men and children, many of whom don’t know each other, lying? Did we somehow conspire to create stories of cancers and other diseases simply to negatively impact NC State? Why would we do that?

Is the data, research and testing conducted by experts and government agencies wrong? Are we expected to believe that the only reliable source about PCBs inside Poe Hall is NC State and their contractors?

Why does NC State refuse to answer questions or answer records requests from those of us poisoned? Wouldn’t NC State want to answer our questions to prove their due diligence in maintaining Poe Hall for the last 55 years? Wouldn’t NC State want to give us information that could help our doctors treat us? 

What has NC State been doing inside Poe Hall? The pictures we have show heavy equipment, workers and construction material in dumpsters. Is this evidence of spoliation of evidence? 

Or is there a possibility that there are a lot of bad truths about a university and an administration who are fighting as hard as they can to shift their accountability in order to save a university’s reputation and revenue?