By popular demand, Facilities Management's weekend bathroom cleaning program will return for a second year, though students haven't enjoyed the benefits just yet. The weekend cleanings will resume starting Sept. 13, said Claudette Santos, a Custodial Services supervisor.
Most residence halls will be cleaned under the program, which took effect for the first time last fall. The program was initiated in response to students' and maintenance workers' complaints about the often stomach-churning conditions in many residence hall bathrooms following students' Friday and Saturday night festivities.
Cleaning will take place on Sunday mornings in Hope College, Wriston, Gregorian and Keeney quadrangles and Slater, Littlefield, Perkins, Hegeman, Caswell, Metcalf and Andrews halls.
Workers will remove trash, wash the sink and toilet area, provide toilet paper, sweep the floor and clean up any vomit, Santos said. But because Facilities Management has reduced staffing on the weekends, they will not foam floors, as they would on weekdays.
The weekend cleaning will still "make the bathroom look presentable and disinfect it," Santos said.
The weekend custodians are regular full-time employees who usually work in the residence halls and who requested the extra shift, which pays overtime, Santos said. About 30 Facilities employees work in the residence halls during the week, and 11 also work on the weekends.
Facilities Management decided to begin weekend cleaning last year, following test runs on Parents Weekend and Spring Weekend the previous year. The new program went "really well," Santos said. "When we came back on Monday, we didn't have a total mess."
Students said they were pleased with weekend bathroom cleaning as well. Sarah Schoenfeldt '11 said she appreciated the program last year when she lived in Keeney Quadrangle and is happy it will continue. Bathrooms "almost need more cleaning on weekends" than during the week, she added.
