The Schwartz Residence Hall section of the Usen Castle has been experiencing various maintenance issues, including a leaking ceiling that forced Kiernan Bagge '12 to vacate his room shortly before a portion of his ceiling collapsed.Bagge told the Justice that on Feb. 25, he entered his room in Schwartz and discovered that the ceiling was leaking and there was flooding in his room. He said he contacted the Department of Community Living to inquire about a temporary room change and moved into a vacant room in Hassenfeld Residence Hall. When he entered his room in Schwartz on Saturday to move his belongings, he said that the ceiling had collapsed.

"All of my room was sprayed with debris, cement and rusted metal," he said, explaining that there was approximately $100 worth of damage to his personal belongings and that he immediately rushed everything to his new room in Hassenfeld.

Jeremy Leiferman, the director of the Department of Community Living, declined to comment.

Mark Collins, the vice president of Campus Operations, said in an interview with the Justice that the damage in Bagge's room was relatively minimal but that a representative from facilities immediately came to fix the maintenance issues.

"We did everything we could based on the circumstances," he said.

Collins explained that the weather for the last few weeks has been detrimental to the Castle in the sense that it has produced several leaks in the building, and the Office of Facilities Services has been working to minimize these leaks.

When asked about the possibility of renovating the Castle, Collins said that the recent maintenance issues in the Castle have reinforced the need to improve the building.

"The recent issues have demonstrated the need for maintenance on the Castle," he said, explaining that while Facilities has done work such as plumbing, masonry fixes and painting, a major renovation needs to occur.

Collins stressed, however, that Facilities had not determined when this renovation would occur, explaining that the renovations on the Charles River Apartments, which are slated to begin in May, are currently the top priority.

"It [this renovation] will occur in the next few years. That is best timeline I can give you," he said.

Collins emphasized that while renovations are necessary in the Castle, the age of the building would make it a tricky and costly renovation, and Facilities would need to discuss possibilities to "add student residence spaces into the Castle facility."

Alex Doucette '12, another resident of the Schwartz Residence Hall, said that his room had minor water damage as well, but this damage was relatively small compared to the damage to other residents' rooms.

"My room, [209], has minor water damage on the wall, but nowhere near as bad as [those of] my neighbors," Doucette wrote, adding that his community adviser's closet experienced water leakage and the maintenance representative who came to fix these issues said he could easily put his fist through the wall because of the extensive water damage.

Bagge confirmed in an e-mail that he and Doucette's community advisor is Mayo Hirabayashi '11. Hirabayashi did not respond to requests for comment by press time.

Bagge wrote in a March 7 e-mail to the Justice that he returned to his room in Schwartz on Thursday, March 4 and discovered that the ceiling had begun to be repaired.

"They cleaned up most of the mess and had filled a large garbage can with the rubble," he wrote.