Josh Whitehead / The SWC Sun
RODENT REDUCTION—SWC’s Environmental Health Coordinator said the college is “working hard to reduce the presence of rodents throughout campus.” A trap in an impacted building.
By Josh Whitehead
Librarians have reportedly filed a grievance against the college for failing to properly address persistent problems with rats and mice in the main library that employees insist create an unsafe workplace. Theater arts employees and some students in the FTMA area have said rats and mice remain a problem on the northeast corner of campus.
College administrators have sent a mixed message – or none at all. Senior leaders have declined to acknowledge that rodents persist, though other employees have said the battle to eliminate infestations continues and that progress is being made.
Theater technician Brandon Watterson laughed off any notion that rats and mice have been vanquished.
“I had a dead mouse fall on me this (academic) year,” he said.
Watterson said he was removing a sweater left behind by a student in the wings of the Performing Arts Center when the dead rodent fell on him. Other theater staff have reported evidence of rats or mice going back four years to the building’s opening and insist more work needs to be done.
Watterson said his encounter with the falling mouse was unpleasant, but he also said he believes new leadership in the college facilities department is making a genuine effort to address the problem.
“They are making some decent progress,” he said.
Mark Sisson, Professor of Film, Television and Media Arts, reported rats last fall, but said he was now more upbeat about the progress ridding his area of rodents.
“We haven’t noticed anything at all (this semester),” he said.
FTMA employees and students checking out equipment in the storage area said they disagree. Rodent traps remain in the equipment cage in the same numbers and same places as before, said an employee.
“We haven’t seen evidence of efforts to get control of the rats and we have heard nothing from facilities,” said the employee, who asked that his name not be used out of fear of retaliation.
Sisson agreed that facilities officials and other college leaders have done a poor job communicating with college employees about rodent mitigation efforts.
“You would think they would communicate, but they haven’t,” he said.
Librarians have communicated their unhappiness with the rodent situation by filing a union grievance against the college, according to faculty speaking on background. Library union representative Naomi Trapp Davis would neither confirm nor deny that a grievance has been filed. Other library employees said they would like to speak out but were advised not to while a grievance is in progress.
Traps and air quality measuring devises remain in the library and FTMA building.
James Lee, Southwestern’s Environmental Health and Safety Coordinator, said the college is “working hard to reduce the presence of rodents throughout the campus.” Lee said independent pest control companies patrol campus weekly to check and replace traps as needed. Efforts are being made to better seal buildings to prevent rodents from entering, he said.
Pest control professionals stepped up their efforts over the summer, Lee said, including high tech “adenosine triphosphate” (ATP) testing that detects molecular presence of rodent waste on surfaces. Positive detections require additional cleaning and intensified extermination efforts. Lee said ATP tests for rodents showed low levels or no presence of rodents. Many of these air quality tests were observed by staff and students in the library and FTMA area underneath the main library. The most recent documented ATP test took place October 10 in the library, FTMA area and buildings affected by a recent mold outbreak.
Library staff members said carpets that smelled of rat urine or had evidence of feces in the spring were steam cleaned and no longer smell. Sun staff which reported on soiled library carpets in the spring revisited the areas this month and agreed that the carpets no long smell of rodents.
“We’ll see where all this goes,” said a union member who has been following the situation for more than a year. “We wish the district had been a little more transparent and forthcoming about this situation last year because it has strained trust, but we are hopeful that the situation is improving.”
District spokeswoman Sofia Robatille declined to comment on the college’s rodent situation.
