STAFF EDIT: Dread bugs

‘ Students living in the opulent condominium-style residences in Boston University’s newest dormitory may have been shocked to find out about a few minor bedbug outbreaks just before the beginning of the semester in StuVi. Unfortunately for those seeking egress in highbrow dorms from common urban pests like bedbugs, everywhere from Warren Towers to the Student Village stands as a possible breeding ground for annoying critters like bugs and mice. That being a rather itchy reality, BU’s Offices of Residence Life and Housing needs to be as properly prepared for a pest outbreak in the dorms as residents need to be patient for the solution.

Bedbug-related incidences like the most recent, in which students who secured a room in StuVi 1 were displaced to a smaller room in StuVi 2 after an infestation was reported in their would-be room prior to move-in day, are unfortunate symptoms of an unavoidable urban inconvenience. BU should not be blamed for having to move the students; however the students should have been better informed, given more keys and given updates regarding the status of their actual room while they waited in their replacement room for several weeks. Students should be grateful for BU’s thorough and efficient infestation control protocol, but they should not have to wait in the dark in a room they did not choose while the room they paid for is being de-bugged. Clean-ups should be as efficient and swift as possible, and BU should not try and make any excuses to obscure whatever unfavorable details that go along with the mitigation of a bedbug infestation.

Regardless, bedbugs are a problem suffered not only by most college campuses, but also by most large cities. They are not indicators of poorly maintained facilities, but rather they are adverse effects of what happens when lots of people live in small spaces. Students should be responsible when it comes to visiting rooms known to be infested and when gathering used furniture, and they should be mindful of their own rooms and of reporting any supposed infestations as soon as possible. As for ResLife and the Office of Housing, their responsibility as the moderators of student dormitories is to simply take care of the problem and keep students in the know. They would do well to advertise infestation guidelines in all major dorms, and to update students of area outbreaks in order to prevent the spread. Otherwise, the BU community should accept the fact that bedbugs ‘- like late buses, big puddles and rats ‘- are just another unpleasant byproduct of urban life.