Recent complaints against Building Attendants (BAs), such as rooms not being cleaned before move-in day, have caused the Student Government Association (SGA) to pass a resolution increasing supervision over BAs by Building Services.
SGA first learned about the issue of dirty rooms on move-in day during the SGA Roadshow held during Welcome Week, when SGA representatives went around to freshman floors introducing themselves and asking freshmen if they had any issues.
"There was a general consensus that students felt their rooms weren't clean," Chris Rindosh, vice president of Student Services for SGA, said.
The committee then proceeded to conduct surveys from September to November.
"I would estimate about 20 of the 25 surveys would come back with students unhappy with their room status on move-in day," Rindosh said. "This is why we started to look into more information."
Student Services first looked at how the rooms are cleaned over the summer and received a detailed description from Building Services of what the rooms are expected to look like on move-in day.
SGA then contacted other departments on campus that were involved with summer programs and worked closely with Building Services, asking them how Building Services operates during the summer. Many of the departments contacted complained that BAs take long breaks and are told on certain days that they do not have to work because of hot weather.
These departments complained to SGA because they received complaints from the summer camps that stay at the College over the summer. In their contracts, the summer camps pay for Building Services; when BAs do not complete their cleaning, the summer camps complain.
"When calling in to report these events, the Building Services' response was minimal and delayed, often (causing) other departments to commit their staff to perform Building Services' responsibilities," Rindosh said.
Chris Chamberlain, Office of Operational Services director, declined to comment about the issue, stating that parts of the resolution were inaccurate and he was not at liberty to discuss areas of the resolution containing personnel issues.
Rindosh said he believes Building Services is aware of this issue, because it has requested that summer camps end two weeks earlier this year to allow more time to clean. However, this decreases income for the College, so the administration has compromised, allowing the summer camps to end one week earlier.
Rindosh felt that lack of supervision and waiting until the last minute were Building Services' biggest flaws.
"Even if a dorm is completely empty in mid-July, it is not cleaned until August with the rest of the emptied dorms. I think it would be more effective if they cleaned the emptied dorms completely in July then did a quick run through and quickly re-dusted them in August," he said.
Rindosh said he hopes the resolution passed in SGA will cause Building Services to re-evaluate how dorms are cleaned over the summer.
"If they would like some suggestions from SGA, I'm completely for working together to ensure students are happier with their rooms when they move in," he said.
Chamberlain said that he will meet with SGA representatives during the spring semester about the concerns that were raised.
