Is Jadwin unsafe?

The Daily Princetonian PRINCETON, N.J. (U-WIRE) -- During the last three home basketball games, enthusiastic students and sell-out crowds have rocked Jadwin -- literally. Director of Engineering Tom Nyquist called Allen Roth, vice president of Joseph B. Callaghan Inc., an engineering firm located in Philadelphia. Roth and Nyquist monitored the tennis court ceiling -- which lies directly below the basketball floor -- during Friday night's game. Roth said he has just begun to look into the structural implications of the vibration, a process that will take several weeks. "Every structure deflects to some degree," he explained. "The issue seems to be what impact the stands have on the court." Roth said the floor vibrated about half an inch during Friday night's game. "I did see some of the beams deflecting on the underside," Roth said. "But I did not see any of the distress that would signify any structural damage." The referee's decision to assess a technical foul against the fans Friday for shaking the court cut short their observation because the fans stopped jumping, Nyquist added. Both Roth and Nyquist emphasized that there is no danger to Jadwin itself, only concern about the amount of vibration in the floor. "We will review what impact structural changes would make," Roth said, noting that he could not speculate as to what his recommendations would be. This is not the first time in the building's 30-year history that Jadwin's floor has been a source of concern to university officials. In the late 1970s, the university installed diagonal reinforcement braces beneath the basketball court after the floor vibrated during a Beach Boys concert.