If you came back to your dorm room and found a note on your door alerting you that your living area had been searched for bedbugs, your first instinct might be to panic. Considering the painstaking effort it takes to remove the pests and the red welts they leave when they bight, dread might be justifiable.

But at least the notice proves the university took a proactive approach. When the Office of Residence life at 575 Commonwealth Ave. received a report complaining about bedbugs, it responded quickly and brought in an exterminator to deal with the situation. We hope that the university will respond to all significant housing complaints in a similar timely manner.

Bedbugs are unpleasant, without question. When they are found, the room has to be torn apart for exterminators, and everything must be stored in plastic bags. Yet as alarming as this process may be, bedbugs are relatively harmless, considering they do not typically carry diseases.

What they do carry is negative publicity. Too many outbreaks may lead people to start questioning BU’s maintenance and cleaning practices. This is why BU is not just quick to respond to bedbugs, but equally quick to hide the problem. When the university’s London campus was infected with the pests, students studying abroad said they were told not to talk about the problem.’

The administration cannot be blamed for outbreaks. The insects jump from person to person, meaning they can be spread too easily on a crowded campus. Many other universities have had to cope with the insects, too. Ohio State University had a case in 2007 that required the school to treat 114 rooms.’

Bedbugs are just one of the many dormitory problems BU will always face. And because it has had so much experience, the university has proved effective in eliminating the individual cases. But it has been lackluster in fixing other problems in dorms.

As the Free Press reported Sept. 25, students have complained about slow university responses for troubles with ants, mice and oven malfunctions in dorm rooms.

Underclassmen housing — BU’s cheapest option — costs $7,420 per year. At that price, students can expect to have their needs met. Ants and mice might be less serious than bedbugs, but they still should be addressed speedily.

When it comes to meeting students’ housing concerns, the administration should care not just about cleaning up a public relations debacle. It should care more generally about keeping clean and safe student dorms.