City College Manages Reports of Bed Bugs

Tackling the Pests that Found a New Home in Shepard Hall by Kiana CohenIt’s not a secret that The City College of New York has had a bed bug problem. In recent years, students shared rumors of this parasitic insect has been present in the North Academic Center. Unfortunately, the rumor proved true for a different location —Shepard Hall's Music Library.The Office of Facilities Management works out of the Compton Goethals building. This department maintains any record involving campus cleanliness and upkeep. Upon inquiry, staff members declined to comment, pointing to the Public Relations Department. The Public Relations Department expressed astonishment upon learning of Facilities' referral.According to the City University of New York (CUNY)'s website, any institution must provide an accurate bed bug containment status. It states, "Students must also be informed of [the college's] control responsibilities to maximize the effectiveness of the campus’s bed bug action plan."After speaking to an anonymous source, they mentioned the reason for this dilemma. “The problem is that they don’t have custodians clean the place properly, which doesn’t help at all” the source said. “They need more supervisors and more custodians to ensure that this place is kept clean, because for some people if there’s no supervisor then they are not going to check on the job to make sure that it is done properly.”When seeking to speak to other college employees about this situation, they demand to remain anonymous and were quite often reluctant to go into depth about the situation. From many anonymous sources in the school, here’s the information that they confirmed:

1. Bed bugs have been present inside of the Shepard building.
2. The issue is currently managed, as they’ve been steaming the area where the bugs are to remove them.
3. The school has hired outside contractors to take care of the situation.

CUNY's website provides ways students can avoid the spread. Some precautions that students should take include:

1. Put something over the seat before you sit down.
2. When finishing food or drinks, throw your items away in the designated waste bin. Even though bed bugs are not associated with uncleanliness, it will be easier to detect them before an infestation can occur.
3. Avoid placing back packs on the floor, and wash clothes at a hot setting.