LONG BEACH : Quake Danger Cited at College Building

Six Cal State Long Beach employees, nervous about projections that a nine-story building they work in could collapse during a major earthquake, have asked that they be moved elsewhere until the university strengthens the structure.

The employees said they are concerned about a 1993 seismic safety report warning that the McIntosh Humanities Building probably would collapse during a major earthquake. The study, sponsored by the university, does not elaborate on the magnitude or proximity of such a quake. “We just don’t feel that it’s safe to wait in this building,” said one of the concerned employees, Pat Warren, a secretary in the philosophy department.

Edeltraud Falk, a part-time German teacher, said she schedules her student conference hours in other campus locations, such as classrooms and computer labs, because she wants to spend as little time as possible in the building. Falk said she has not requested relocation because she is not a member of the employees’ union, the California State Employees Assn., which is supporting the request.

About 130 university employees work in the office building, the tallest structure on campus.

University officials said they have no vacant office space on campus to relocate the employees. They have asked employees to continue working in the building while administrators seek $1.2 million to pay for strengthening of the structure.

Voters earlier this month defeated a ballot measure that would have raised $900 million to pay for structural reinforcement of state higher education facilities.

The employees filed a grievance last week with the California State University chancellor’s office after Cal State Long Beach officials rejected their request.

Warren said the employees requesting relocation work on the top three floors. Workers on lower floors, she said, may be less concerned with the structure’s safety because they cannot feel the tremors that occasionally occur in the building.