After confusion over whether or not suite bathrooms were going to continue being cleaned by janitorial staff, cleaning has resumed. (Photo Courtesy of Jan Antonin Kolar on Unsplash)
The janitorial services responsible for cleaning the suite bathrooms in the residence halls were suspended beginning the week of Feb. 21 but have since been restored. The college cited the rise in COVID-19 cases as the reason for the pause in services.
Suite bathrooms are usually cleaned and restocked with supplies weekly. When Facilities Services made the decision to suspend cleaning, there was inconsistent communication from residence halls to their residents.
According to Vice President of Finance and Administration Julie Buehler, changes to the College’s COVID-19 response made communication with Facilities Services difficult. The decision to briefly pause cleaning services to suite bathrooms was meant to be communicated to students.
“We are in the middle of a pandemic and we have to have some flexibility, but our intention is to keep those bathrooms clean as we have been doing,” Buehler said. “There were some communication issues that happened. It's the old telephone game, it was one person tells another person, tells another person, tells another person … by the time the message got down, it was incorrect.”
Residents of Writers House in Seneca Hall received several emails alerting them of the change. The first email, forwarded from Facilities Services on Feb. 17 by Assistant Director of Residence Life for Housing Operations Saratoga Terrace Townhouses, Taylor Gale, indicated the suspension and made students aware of cleaning supplies that would be available at the service desk. All subsequent emails were from Area Coordinator Christopher Rivera until the final email on Feb. 18 that said bathrooms would be cleaned the following weekend.
In contrast, other residence halls received no communication from the administration and believed they would have to clean their own bathrooms for an undefined period of time. The miscommunication led to varying reactions from students.
“I completely understand why there was a pause in bathroom cleaning considering the obstacles created by the pandemic,” Julia Brandow, communication major sophomore and resident of Ontario Hall, said. “I just would have appreciated if there was some type of communication on behalf of the administration.”
Brandow said that she and her roommates were unsure who to contact about the situation.
“I ended up reaching out to my RA, but never heard a response. Again, I really have no problem cleaning my own bathroom, especially considering the risk those who clean take entering our space during a health crisis … I just would have appreciated an email,” Brandow said.
Moving forward, Buehler spoke on behalf of the Geneseo administration saying that they are focused on providing a safe environment for students during the pandemic, as well as avoiding any further misunderstandings.