Karina Gonzalez
Cleanliness seems to be a priority everywhere these days, so why has Pierce College been left in the dust?
According to Plant Facilities Director Paul Nieman, 21 custodians are on campus every morning to make sure our campus and classrooms are maintained.
But this begs the question: what exactly is our standard of cleanliness? Do we even have one?
From noon to 8:30 p.m., two custodians are responsible for keeping all 427 acres of our campus clean. That’s like asking each of them to clean thousands of suburban houses in an eight-hour shift.
As a result of this insufficiency, sinks in our labs stay filthy, many of our classroom floors are encrusted with dirt and ventilation ducts remain caked with what seems like years of grime.
It has come to the point where professors are left to sweep the bugs, dirt and garbage from their rooms themselves before students arrive.
Even in the computer labs, where food and drinks are prohibited, remnants of students’ lunches have been entirely overlooked.
In our bathrooms, sanitation isn’t the only thing in short supply. Toilet paper and hand soap are becoming commodities as well.
And while our janitorial staff could stand to gain a few, we as students really need to grow up.
Whether it’s graffiti on stalls, urine on the toilet seats or hand towels on the bathroom floor, we’re doing everything possible to prove how inconsiderate we are.
Whatever our bad habits, Pierce devotes far too little attention to custodial services. If shopping malls can have their bathrooms cleaned several times throughout the day to ensure the satisfaction of their thousands of customers, is it unreasonable for us, as students (and as Pierce’s customers), to expect the same treatment?
We aren’t demanding “immaculate” here by any means, but we don’t deserve a dump, either. It’s time students take some pride in their campus and a little initiative from administration could very well spark that change.