The omission of a dehumidification system in an indoor swimming pool (“Swimming Upstream,” Under the Elms, July/August) is something Brown should have picked up on when the Smith Swim Center was first being built. However that is why you hire competent builders.

In the end, responsibility for leaving out the system rests solely on the shoulders of the building’s designer and mechanical engineer, regardless of who procured their services.

Mr. Tully’s analogy likening the swim center to a car and his statement that Brown did not “change the oil in the car” are irrelevant. That analogy would hold true only if Brown had had a dehumidification system in place and had failed to drain the water from the system for thirty years.

Brown should try to find the documents pertaining to the construction and pursue legal action against the architect, engineer, and potentially the construction manager. This is a serious issue that could have caused injury or death and would have been one of the worst tragedies in Brown history. Ironically, and thankfully, we had a fire in the building.

Joseph McDonald ’02

Warwick, R.I.

josephtmcdonald@gmail.com