When homework and studying create stress for Doane students, they often spend more time in the library and less time cleaning up after themselves.
That’s when Doane’s maintenance and custodial staff takes over.
Deb Hulse, a custodian in Hansen Hall, said she spent most of her time cleaning in students’ rooms, public bathrooms, kitchens and other common areas in the hall. She said she also vacuumed and checked garbage among other jobs.
Hulse said her job kept her busy most of the day.
“Times (for cleaning rooms) can vary but it takes most of the day to clean the first-floor rooms and an afternoon to clean the second floor,” she said.
In Hansen, suites are cleaned once per week, and common areas are cleaned more frequently.
Bobbie Fye, manager of custodial services, said the custodians in each hall followed a schedule for their cleaning.
“They each have a number of rooms they clean each day and then they clean common areas,” he said.
Freshman Cody Gorsett, a Hansen Hall resident said although he did not have major issues with the cleaning staff, he said he saw the custodians in his hall in their break room at times.
“There was a time when we forgot to move some of our stuff and they didn’t clean,” he said. “Otherwise, they seem nice enough, but I see them in the break room a lot. We usually go look for them in there when we need them.”
Still, Fye said the custodial staff only took breaks for 30 minutes in the morning and an hour for lunch, and he said he thought they were completing their work in a quality manner.
“I certainly do think that the work gets done because they do a lot of extra work cleaning up,” he said. “They clean up trash that students leave out. They do a lot of work in the kitchens on Mondays, too, especially after students have been in them on the weekends.”
Junior Frees Hall resident Sadie Martin attributed some of the cleaning issues in her hall to a lack of student responsibility.
“They (the custodial staff) usually do a pretty good job around here (in Frees),” she said.
Martin said it was the common areas that took the most work.
“The worst areas are the kitchens, then the public bathroom,” she said. “It seems like the trash is always overflowing. The sinks and counters get gross easily, too, but I think that is due to students not taking the responsibility to clean up after themselves.”
Hulse said she had not dealt with many student complaints, but when she did, she either notified Fye, or he notified her.
“Usually if somebody complains they will go to our boss and he will let us know and we will go back in (to their room) if we need to,” she said.
She said at times they had not cleaned certain rooms if things were not picked up, but the staff was quick to notify their superiors and the students if that happened.
Fye said he dealt with complaints on an individual basis, but he was happy with the custodial work in the halls.
“I think they do a pretty good job,” he said.
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