Clean and Clear, or Not.

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Posted: 11/26/08

Prakirti Nangia
Senior Staff Writer

When Archana Vishwanath walked into her eleventh floor kitchen the other day, what she saw made her very angry.

It was about 2 a.m., and almost everyone at Hunter College's Brookdale Residence Hall was asleep-that is, everyone except certain lucky roaches that she found feasting on the leftovers in the kitchen sink.
Disgusted, Vishwanath left the scene. She recalled the encounter as one of the worst experiences she has had with cleanliness at Brookdale in the last two-plus years of living there. Generally, she said, the residence hall is clean. She gave Brookdale a score of eight out of ten for its cleanliness and hygiene.

Many of her peers agreed. "I would say the cleanliness level of the dorms is acceptable," said Melissa Long, 20, also an eleventh floor resident. "It could be worse," she added.

Rebecca Breech of the sixth floor concurred. "The conditions of the dorms could always be worse, or worse yet, we could not have the dorms at all," she said, echoing Long's feelings.

Still, for all the nods, roaches-in-the-sink-like encounters were frequent as well. Those who believed things could be worse also admitted that they could be better.

"I think that the dorms could be cleaner in some situations," said Breech as she recalled how the sink often floods due to clogging and the couches in common areas remain dirty.

Vishwanath also pointed out some recurring problems. "Almost every day as I walk into the toilet, at least one out of three toilet seats is dirty, with urine on top of it," she said.

Long added to the list. "I often see dirty dishes left for longer than just a few hours and the tabletops are left with remnants of their food. There is still hair left in the shower stalls as well," she said.

Sherri Sharbafan, one of the resident assistants, touched on other issues as well. "The chairs are uncomfortable and old. The bathrooms need to be mopped more because the floors seem really dirty. The ceiling by the showers needs a new paint job with paint that does not peel with moisture. The kitchen countertops need to be disinfected and cleaned more often," she said.

The dorm administration said it has received similar complaints.

Pamela Burthwright, the Director of Residence Life at Brookdale, said when residents inform the administration of cleanliness problems on their floors, the office takes steps to alleviate pressing issues.

Once when she responded to the complaints by surveying the residential section of the dorms herself, Burthwright said she found that "bathrooms were not bathrooms" and kitchens, showers, and floors "weren't as clean as they should be."

Are students or cleaners, then, to be blamed?

Burthwright said she believed it was a "two-way street."

Attempts at cleanliness "work best when there is cooperation between students and cleaners," she said, adding that it would help if students also took up responsibility and saw the residence hall as their own.

Most residents, on the other hand, went a step further. They believed the responsibility should fall entirely on students themselves, as cleaners already do what they are supposed to.

"The custodians leave the bathrooms and kitchen sparkling clean. They also take out the trash on time," said Vishwanath. It is the students who "oftentimes leave hair in the bathrooms that end up clogging the drain, and urinate on the seat covers," she said.

Long felt similarly. "I think they do the best with what they have. I do see custodians on my floor restocking toilet paper, paper towels and mopping the hallways maybe twice a week," she said of the cleaning staff. Her peers, she felt, "could definitely be more considerate of their floor mates."

Robert Hendrix of the Facilities and Management Office of Brookdale also said he often heard complaints, but not particularly against the cleaning staff, which he estimates to be of eight people.

This staff, he said, is responsible for cleaning kitchens and showers on each floor once a day, which residents mostly agreed it does.

Yet, there is enough blame to go around, some students said.

Sharbafan said she felt that, at times, the cleaners "do a good job but lately they haven't. I feel like they barely mop the floors or clean the showers or toilet seats. I'm not sure if they clean our kitchen because it looks the same every day," she said.

Burthwright seemed to agree. She said if all of the custodian staff were like Maria, the cleaner assigned to the first four residential floors, things would be better. The reason Maria cleans well, Burthwright said, is because "she takes pride in her work."

"I wish I could clone her," she added.