Courtesy of Siegfried Poepperl / Pexels
By Josh Whitehead
Southwestern College’s wandering rats have appeared in the television studio and theater. Now they have been spotted in the recording studio and music rehearsal rooms.
Students and faculty confirmed reports that rats have moved into Southwestern’s highly-regarded recording arts building. A facility that has hosted superstar Stevie Wonder, South African human rights legend Miriam Makeba, Beyonce, the Ramones, San Diego Music Award recipient (and SWC alum) Jessie Lark, Kamau Kenyatta and Brandy Melville recording artist Ella Aldridge is the fourth known campus building to battle rats.
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Nakul Tiruviluamala, assistant professor of commercial music, has worked in the recording studio for four years. He said he has seen a live rodent in the building as well as rodent waste.
ASO President Gian Marco Zuno, a former recording arts intern, said he has cleaned up rodent droppings in the studio.
“I did notice some rat urine, feces or some sort of rat waste, “ he said.
Zuno and Tiruviluamala said an infestation in the studio was concerning because the compact building is packed with expensive, state-of-the-art technology that could be damaged by nibbling rodents. Zuno said rats in the studio are a ticking time bomb because they can get into trenches in the floor that channel expensive cabling.
“Rats can affect the equipment and that’s an $8 million studio,” he said. “You don’t want to lose that functionality because of rodents.”
College leaders said custodial staff and contractors are working hard to control rats and mice. Performing arts staff, when asked, said they do not see custodians come in to clean. Faculty members said there are specific cleaning criteria to protect the expensive specialized equipment and cabling.
There are no confirmed rodent related illnesses among college employees, but faculty leaders have expressed concerns about unsafe work conditions in parts of the campus. Last semester the faculty union and college were in arbitration with a dispute over cleanliness of the library, media equipment area and other campus locations. Union officials and college communications employees said they cannot discuss arbitration proceedings until the process concludes.
The U.S. Center for Disease Control warns that rodent infestations and their waste products can transmit dangerous diseases such as Leptospirosis, Hanta Virus and Salmonellosis.
Zuno said working in a building with rodents makes him anxious.
“It’s not a good situation to be in.”
