The Undergraduate Council of Students and Facilities Management have teamed up to publicize the custodial and maintenance services offered by Facilities Management through informative posters in residence hall bathrooms.
"It's definitely very unsanitary to have body fluids in the bathroom for a long period of time," said Jane Zhang '10, a member of the UCS admissions and student services committee. Zhang said she came up with the idea for the posters after seeing the sorry state of the bathrooms in her dorm on weekends.
The posters display a phone number for Facilities Management and encourage students to call if they see problems like bodily fluids in residence hall bathrooms or broken fixtures.
Cleaning services are offered 24 hours a day - even on the weekends and other times when custodial staff don't usually work in the dorms. All Custodial Services employees are trained to deal with cleaning hazardous substances and bodily fluids such as vomit or blood.
The problem is one of awareness, said Donna Butler, director of custodial services.
"We already respond to any type of emergency," she said. "I got the impression that people didn't know what number to call, and this is really an effort to change that."
"By students making that call, a lot of the time it will prevent a small problem from becoming big and so will save a lot of time and money," said John Guglielmetti, manager of custodial services.
The posters also include phone numbers for the Department of Public Safety and Psychological Services.
Facilities Management has printed 300 signs and will post them in residence hall bathrooms around campus within the next two weeks. "We're looking forward to it. We hope the message gets out and is helpful to students," Butler said.
