A spokesman for the University of Northern Iowa says an investigation of fire damage in three university buildings turned up some bad news. Gilchrist, Lang and Baker Halls were all damaged the weekend of October 15th by fires that appear to have been intentionally set. U-N-I spokes James O’Connor says insurance investigators recently surveyed all three buildings. He says the smoke and fire damage is more significant than originally anticipated, particularly in Gilchrist Hall. O’Connor says they’ll have to delay plans to move back into Gilchrist from November 1st to the end of November or early December. O’Connor says Gilchrist has some features that made the damage from the smoke worse. He says it’s a sealed building without windows that open, so all the smoke was trapped in the building and then moved through the air ducts. Gilchrist is the home of several key university departments, but Gilchrist says they’ve been able to keep things running. He says the student services were moved to the union and the finance and administration were moved to other areas around campus. He says things might be running a little slower, but he says they’re still moving ahead. There’ve not been any arrests made in connection with the fires.
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