A UTEP police officer was dispatched at 8 a.m. Aug. 26 to the Centennial Museum due to a call about an injured person in the building.

A few days after this incident initially occurred, a student in my writing class brought up some startling news that a faculty member was severely injured. The student went on to say that a water line broke and caused a toilet to erupt. At a later date, they said that this accident could have been more severe if the victim had not acted right away.

Eventually I learned that the person injured was Kaye Mullins, Administrative Assistant of the Centennial Museum, suffering a large open wound to her right arm. Medical personnel were called to the scene and she was transferred to Providence Memorial Hospital.

It is suspected that the accident may have been in relation to a water line failure. The office of the Vice President for Business Affairs sent out an email on Aug. 27 to students urging them to be patient as the water lines had to be repaired and temporarily shut off.

Ten buildings, including the Centennial Museum, dealt with maintenance. The other nine buildings were surrounding buildings close to the museum.

Vice President for Business Affairs Cynthia Vizcaíno Villa didn’t have much to say about the incident.

“The safety and well-being of our students, faculty and staff are of the utmost importance for us at UTEP,” Villa said. “We have no other details to add to the incident report.”

Mullins could not be reached for comment.

The UTEP Police Department would not comment as the case is still under investigation.

Questions on my mind remain: what happened on Aug. 26? And is this an issue that the UTEP community should be worried about?

An exploding toilet that left a large open wound is something of great concern. If this happened at the Centennial Museum, who is to say that it won’t happen in another building around campus?

Was this caused because of all of the ongoing construction and could this possibly be a reoccurring incident that could affect more people?

The questions are endless and it seems that none of them are being answered.

As of Sept. 13, the Centennial Museum has yet to repair the restroom facilities. The next closest restroom is located in the Undergraduate Learning Center.

Amanda Guillen may be reached at [email protected].