The state of residence hall bathrooms has been a common complaint by students this semester, a complaint voiced with particular fervor at the Community Meeting this November.

Most students were made aware of the problem earlier in the semester with feces being smeared on bathroom stall doors. A particular complaint at the time, especially in Martin Hall’s first floor women’s bathroom, was that the janitorial staff did not clean the feces off the stall for over a week. Residents of the first floor girls section of Martin Hall began to use upstairs bathrooms instead of having to see that every day.

While feces in the stalls were an extreme and, at this point, have been dealt with, there are additional concerns with cleanliness in the residence hall bathrooms. It is not uncommon for hair to clog shower drains, for hair to be sitting in the same stalls for days on end, for sanitary napkins to be left in a shower for over a day, or for stains to be found on sinks or on the toilet seats themselves.

The issue is twofold.

One, students using these facilities should do their best to treat them like their home and keep them clean. This means not leaving hair in the shower to clog the drain, disposing of your personal items in an appropriate and sanitary manner, and rinsing the sink after someone brushes their teeth.

Secondly, too much time passes between uncleanly events taking place and their being dealt with. This second reason is what has several students questioning what cleaning policies are on campus, how janitorial staff is trained, and why it seems that cleaning is not happening.

To begin with hiring, Tony Negrin, Campus Coordinator and Interim Assistant Director of Physical Plant, explained, “The cleaning of Pace University buildings is performed by ABM Janitorial Services. ABM supplies Pace with the union work force needed to clean our buildings.”

A common concern raised by students is that although they see the cleaning staff in the bathrooms, little seems to change when they leave. Students question whether any actual cleaning gets done while staff is in the bathrooms.

The proper procedure is for staff to clean bathrooms once a day. This cleaning should involve sanitizing toilets, sinks, showers, floors, and stalls as well as taking out the trash and replacing paper towels and toilet paper. The bathroom should also be checked on once more before the end of the day.

Complaints are not simply being discussed amongst students. As mentioned before, concerns were mentioned at the Community Meeting.

According to Negrin, the concerns mentioned there have been dealt with. Students should know, however, that no complaints have been heard or made known to staff since the Community Meeting. If a complaint is made, it is first reviewed, and then an action plan is developed and seen through.

If a complaint is made concerning a particular employee, it is possible that disciplinary action will be taken with said employee.

Perhaps the most pressing question is whether or not janitorial staff undergoes evaluations for their performance. To this, Negrin replied no.

“Currently, no ABM union employee receives a job evaluation from ABM. Each ABM campus supervisor oversees all cleaners’ efforts at each individual site,” he clarified, adding that these supervisors are also responsible for making sure cleaning expectations are met and for dealing with safety and training.

Communal living can put individuals at a higher risk for spreading germs. Combined with stress, and thus occasionally a weakened immune system, this can lead to colds and other ailments.

Moving forward, if people have complaints regarding the cleanliness of residence hall facilities, please do not hesitate to submit a written complaint.