The second floor of San Jose City College’s racquetball court building was unofficially closed at the Facilities Committee meeting on Nov. 8.

The committee cited the lack of ventilation and unsafe amounts of asbestos in the building as the main reasons for their decision.

“It’s a matter of regulations,” said Stephen Mansfield, chair of the facilities committee.

The subject of the building was brought up during talks about retrofitting and demolishing other buildings on campus at the Facilities Committee meeting. The committee attacked the racquetball building as incompliant with health standards.

Percy Carr, head coach of SJCC’s men’s basketball team and voting member on the Facilities Committee, who has used the building for five years, fought to keep the building from being closed for use, saying that the one door in the building was proper enough ventilation.

“We’ve been using the [raquetball] building for five years to watch tapes,” said Carr, speaking about how his basketball team has reviewed tapes and held practices in the building. “Why wasn’t this brought up in that whole time?”

Some from the committee discussed solutions to bring the building up to code. Michael Casas, a member of the Facilities Committee and representative of the Associated Students discussed the idea of installing a new ventilation system.

This led to other members of the campus community who attended the meeting to voice their concerns about other buildings on campus including the Fine Arts building and the physical education room in the 300 wing of SJCC both of which also lack ventilation.

The Facilities Committee plans to demolish and renovate multiple buildings on campus as part of SJCC’s 2025 Master Facilities Plan.
With HMC’s mission of sustainable development, SJCC could soon see buildings that not only meet state health standards, but also gain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, according to HMC representative Deborah Shepley.

Soon, the college could see new buildings that are not only safe for students but also energy efficient and cater to the needs of the SJCC Campus Community.