‘ Boston University housing officials have identified the bedbug infestation in dormitories such as Student Village and Myles-Standish Hall as a serious concern within the last year.
The infestations don’t just occur in older dormitories — they can show up in any building, new or old. There were five StuVi1 apartments infested with bedbugs at the start of the academic year, Director of Housing Marc Robillard said.’
‘Bedbugs travel with people. It has nothing to do with hygiene,’ he said. ‘Some of the nicest hotels in the world have bedbugs because of the transition of people coming into their properties.’
In August, housing officials checked each of the larger residences for bedbugs after the dorms housed different groups during the summer, Robillard said. Housing officials said they are currently unaware of any active cases on campus.
Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences graduate student Emily Wilkinson said she found out her four-bedroom StuVi apartment, which she shared with roommates last year, was one of the five infested.
‘I guess they found the bedbugs when they were doing an inspection so they didn’t want to put us [in our apartment],’ she said. ‘They moved us into StuVi 2 and told us it would take two weeks for the whole process to happen. It took more than three, which was annoying.’
Bedbug infestations are nothing new to BU. Off-campus students have been dealing with the dilemma for years-especially in Allston, where students frequently recycle furniture, outbreaks are much more common.
Ava Chan, director of community organizing at the Allston Brighton Community Development Corporation, said bedbugs are an issue in Allston, but they are not serious enough for students to consider moving back on campus.
‘Students should know their rights when living off campus,’ Chan said. She said students should know what the landlord is obligated to do in the case of an infestation.
In the past, the Allston Brighton CDC has received money from the state specifically to replace mattresses with bedbugs or to help landlords treat apartments with infestations.
‘ Chan said funds have been cut for infestations due to the economy, but also because people now take more preventative steps against bedbugs because they are more aware.
There are, however, still programs in effect, Chan said. On Sept. 1, a major move-in day for students, the city and Allston-Brighton CDS put up stickers on used furniture to prevent the spread.
Bedbug concerns on campus started with a breakout last fall in 575 Commonwealth Ave. Robillard said,
‘It was serious last year,’ he said. ‘There were a lot of rooms that had bedbugs.’
Robillard said nationally, the bedbugs have become much more prevalent among college campuses.
‘In the past it would be isolated, we’d have one or two rooms. Today, there seems to be a resurgence,’ he said.
While bedbugs are a nuisance, they are not dangerous, Robillard said, advising students not to panic. He said they inform students of the protocol for treating the infestation.
‘The treatment is effective . . . they are in no particular danger,’ he said. ‘It is disruptive for a period of time because you need to be out of your room and clean all of your clothes.’
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