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THE DAILY REVEILLE WWW.LSUREVEILLE.COM
Volume 114, Issue 138
Facility Services keeps bathrooms clean By Grace Montgomery Staff Writer
Whether a commuter or an oncampus resident, members of the University community all share a common experience — using public bathrooms. Be it the tight-spaced stalls in Lockett or the marble and vibrantcolored surfaces in the French House, these facilities vary across campus and leave students with preapproved locations for that quick break from class. “I try to avoid public bathrooms in general,” said Megan Dugas, biology freshman. Some may consider public bathrooms one of the worst parts of college life, but more than 200 University employees make the care and cleaning of campus bathrooms a daily focus. Facility Services employs 245 custodians to keep campus buildings tidy. “They are kind of the hidden person on campus,” said Building Services Assistant Director Kim Gardiner. “But it’s a big business.” And this “big business” not only includes the 886 men’s stalls, 498 urinals, 975 women’s stalls and 1,668 sinks on campus that Custodial Services cleans, but it also includes a hefty price tag — the University spends $72,000 per year on paper towels, $23,000 on soap and $53,000 on toilet paper. “It’s the largest of building services,” Gardiner said. “We clean 6 million-plus square feet every day.” A DAY IN THE LIFE Custodians are assigned to work in three shifts throughout the
day. The first shift lasts from 6 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., the second is from 3:30 p.m. to midnight and the third is from 9 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. The number of custodians who work during each shift varies because traffic in buildings fluctuates throughout the day. Custodians check in at one of 15 custodial stations on campus during shifts and walk to their assigned buildings nearby. The third late-night shift operates in Middleton Library only, Gardiner said. Each building has multiple closets with cleaning supplies for custodians. Supervisor James Wilkerson said it’s easy to fall into a daily routine, no matter which building he’s assigned. First, custodians rinse down the entire bathroom and then close each bathroom for 45 minutes to an hour once a day to deep clean the whole facility. Finally, custodians return to clean off stronger chemicals left from the deep cleaning process. “Once clean, we spray the walls down with solution to rinse it off,” Wilkerson said. Black lights are used before and after deep cleans to locate areas needing more attention than others. “It illuminates bacteria and other things that to the natural eye in a restroom that otherwise looks clean,” Facility Services Manager Charles Manogin said. Custodians return two or three times a day to make sure bathrooms are clean. Custodians walk around BATHROOMS, see page 11
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
THE GOOD, THE BAD
& THE DIRTY
CRIME
LSUPD satisfied with its response By Xerxes A. Wilson Senior Staff Writer
MELANIE SCOTT / The Daily Reveille
Following an internal investigation, the LSU Police Department said officials are satisfied with the response to the incident in the Quad in February. LSUPD’s response time came under scrutiny from students and parents after architecture junior Storm Erie drove a car into the Quad and unloaded an assortment of items before leaving the area with his dog. Following the incident, many students felt the police should have responded more quickly to a potentially dangerous situation. Telephone and radio recordings indicate police reached the Quad four minutes and 51 seconds after the first report. The first indication police had of the incident came when an unidentified witness called police saying “a car just drove into the Quad and almost hit a couple people.” The police operator then continually received calls reporting the incident. Some calls had a sense of
A custodian uses a black light to see where germs are in a campus bathroom stall. Facility Services employs 245 custodians to keep campus buildings clean.
QUAD, see page 11
ENVIRONMENT
Volunteers needed to help clean up oil spill on the coast By Rachel Warren Contributing Writer
News of the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has spread through campus, and many students want to know how they can help. Petty Officer Brandon Blackwell with the U.S. Coast Guard said BP, the company responsible for the oil spill, has set up several organizations to coordinate volunteer efforts. People looking to volunteer can call the BP hotline and give the operator their information, Blackwell said. The information will then be given to a specific department depending on the volunteer’s personal skills. The department will contact volunteers and determine what they will be doing.
Volunteers are needed to pre-clean the beaches in case the oil reaches the coast. Blackwell said clean beaches are easier to clean oil from. Blackwell said many people are interested in working to preserve wildlife, but working on the coast itself is just as important. Ralph Portier, environmental sciences professor, said he’s had several students ask about volunteering, but many are unable to help because they lack hazardous materials training. Portier said an ideal situation would be training available to students after finals to create a bigger group of volunteers to clean up the spill. Several areas of volunteering require training, but some don’t. “There will be a lot of people needed
for organization, administrative work, loading cleaning products onto trucks and other things,” Blackwell said. There are currently response centers in Pensacola, Fla.; Venice, La.; Mobile, Ala.; and Pascagoula and Biloxi, Miss. A Facebook group called LSU SCHOLR (Student Coalition to Help the Oil Leak Relief) was created by members of several student organizations to provide students with up-to-date information and a forum to discuss events and volunteer opportunities. Students looking to report directly to BP to volunteer should call 1-866-4485816.
JAMES EDWARD BATES / The Associated Press
Contact Rachel Warren at rwarren@lsureveille.com
Justin Main, an Institute for Marine Mammal Studies volunteer, inspects a turtle May 2 on the beach in Pass Christian, Miss.