By Abigail Holliday
Copy Editor
Two years ago, Isabella Dani and her mother were touring the College when they came across Matthew Kaufman’s article for The Signal, “Rodent residents: Mice make themselves at home in residence halls.” They had hoped that this issue would have been solved by the time Dani moved into the dorms.
They never expected Kaufman’s article would come around full circle.
Dani, a sophomore fine arts major, and her roommate Ana Hernandez-Lujan, a sophomore history secondary education major, live on the second floor of Eickhoff Hall where they, and many other students, have experienced mice in their rooms.
Dani and Hernandez-Lujan have encountered mice in their room on two separate occasions. Once, a mouse ran into their room and took residence in their closet until they enlisted help to chase it away. The second time, Hernandez-Lujan was frightened by a loud snapping sound at 4 a.m.; they subsequently found a dead mouse caught in one of their traps.
She had to wait until 8 a.m. that same day to call Campus Police, who told her they would try to send someone over. It wasn’t until Dani’s mother herself called, and Pest Control was sent to remove it.
Dani and Hernandez-Lujan aren’t the only ones experiencing these encounters. According to Emily Dodd, a spokesperson for the College’s, there has been an increase in mice-related work orders.
“As temperatures drop, mice naturally seek food, warmth, and shelter indoors. Over the past several weeks, as snow accumulation increased and temperatures remained well below seasonal averages, we experienced an uptick in work orders related to mice in several residence halls, particularly Eickhoff Hall and the Townhouses,” Dodd told The Signal in a written statement.
Mice traps are commonly used to capture and remove the rodent from student dorm buildings. (Photo courtesy of Erin Reilly)
The College encourages students to take active preventative measures against the mice including reducing clutter in dorms and common areas, avoiding leaving out food and disposing of trash regularly. Dodd prompts those who have seen any evidence of a mouse in their room to submit a Facilities work order promptly.
“By combining proactive facilities management with preventative steps taken by residents, we can effectively minimize these occurrences and maintain a comfortable living environment for everyone,” Dodd said.
While these tactics may work for some students, they have not been successful for Dani and Hernandez-Lujan.
The College’s facilities have placed mouse traps on either side of their door, but it hasn’t been enough. They had put all of their food in boxes and placed it on top of their closets, used towels under their door while the door stopper they purchased was on its way and had pest control come and install peppermint mouse repellent.
“Why [mice] in our room out of everybody,” Dani said, “we’re not the type of people to leave food out.”
The two roommates expressed that having mice in the dorms was seen as “so common,” as if the mice were to be expected due to Eickoff Hall being a dining hall. Outside of being told which number to call for Campus Police if encountering a mouse, they were not talked to by their CA or another college official to address the issue.
Dodd said that the College has partnered closely with a contracted pest control team as a way to allow an increase in the amount of visits and widen the range of mitigation methods.
“As a result of these enhanced efforts, we have already seen a measurable decrease in reported concerns, declining from 40 in January to seven thus far in February,” Dodd said.
