Mice Infest Dorms

Students living in Aquinas Hall and St. Joseph Hall are faced with mice infestation. According to student sightings, mice have been spotted on the first, third, and fourth floors of Aquinas Hall and the basement floor of St. Joseph Hall.

Meaghan Mercurio '10, a third-floor resident of Aquinas Hall, has caught seven mice in her room. The mice were first discovered when the residents heard a scurrying noise.

"It ate through all our candy," said Mercurio of the damage caused by the mice in her dorm.

The girls called the Office of Residence Life immediately after they discovered the damage from the mouse.

"We went to go buy traps ourselves because the sticky traps don't really work, and they [Office of Residence Life] weren't taking us seriously until the third mouse," said Mercurio.

According to Mercurio, she and her roommates have been having a problem with mice for about a week. Monday, Dec. 3, was the first day that they had not caught a mouse in their room.

"They [Office of Residence Life] don't know when the exterminator is coming. I would like them to keep their buildings cleaner and exterminate before we come to school," said Mercurio.

According to Mercurio there is a hole in the molding behind her bed. The Residence Life Office told her that they could not fix it.

"A mouse could definitely fit through there [the hole]," said Mercurio.

The girls have also had problems with silverfish in their room which come through the heater.

"I do realize that they have a lot of stuff on their plate and it's an old building… but we're paying a lot [or money] to live here," said Mercurio.

Fourth floor residents of Aquinas Hall Sarah Randles '10, Meaghan Nagurney '10, and Lizz Vaghi '10, have spotted at least one mouse in their room. According to Randles, she was alone in the room when she saw a mouse run across the floor. When her roommate, Nagurney, came back to the room they moved all the furniture and things stored under their beds looking for the mouse. However, they could not find it. A short while later they again saw the mouse scurry across the room. They believe the mouse to now be living in the heater.

"I e-mailed the fixit people and they said, 'if we don't respond within 5 days send us another e-mail,'" said Nagurney.

"It took them the full 5 days to get to our room. I think they could do a better job, but they're not doing horribly," said Vaghi.

The Office of Residence Life placed "sticky traps" in the girls' room, but they have not caught any mice.

"They [the mice] could have diseases. I think that they should have taken it a little more seriously," said Vaghi.

Other fourth floor Aquinas residents have also been having problems with mice. Allison Ferlito '10 and Jennifer Zinno '10 spotted a mouse in their room two weeks before Thanksgiving break. They contacted the Office of Residence Life immediately. Residence Life did respond right away and placed a couple of sticky mouse traps in the room. According to Ferlito, within a couple of hours of setting up the traps she and her roommates found a mouse caught in one. They have not found any more mice since the initial incident. However, they can still hear them in the walls.

"It's disgusting, it's deplorable, [and] it's a sign of filth," said Zinno. "The issue of the mice should have been solved already. Mice are dirty animals and are not conducive to [a] living environment."

"I didn't come to Providence College to live in less than standard living conditions and I hope this problem can be solved before the New Year," said Ferlito.

In addition to mice, Ferlito and Zinno have also had problems with bugs in their room. According to Ferlito, the problem has persisted since they moved into the room in September.

"I e-mailed them [Residence Life] a couple of times a week about it," said Ferlito.

An exterminator did come to look at the problem. Sticky traps for the bugs were placed around the room. The traps only caught two bugs.

"We've been asking them [Residence Life] to spray from day one and they haven't," said Ferlito. "I know that there's more to be done that putting down a sticky trap. I would like to see action taken over break."

Third-floor resident Michael Sciore '10 had a problem with mice in his room from the very beginning of the school year as well.

"My roommate had a mouse in his desk," said Sciore.

The students found a mouse nest in a drawer of one of the desks when they moved into their room. According to Sciore, the nest was relatively fresh and had droppings in it. The students e-mailed the Office of Residence Life immediately and a couple of weeks later someone came and put rodent poison under the desk.

Angela Green '10 and Lauren Spicer '10, residents of third floor Aquinas, caught a mouse in their room. The first night they saw the mouse it was around 10:00 p.m. and they promptly called security. Security told them that they would call Physical Plant. The next day the girls went to the Office of Residence Life. A mouse trap was placed in their room and someone from the Residence Life staff came within the hour to pick up the dead mouse found in the trap. According to the girls, someone from the Office of Residence Life comes every day to check the room for signs of further infestation.

"It got into food," said Spicer. "The wall was crumbling but we don't know if that has anything to do with it [how the mouse got into the room]."

Catherine Ginllanza '10 saw a mouse in her room on Nov. 25. She saw the mouse run into her room and into her closet. She immediately pulled everything out of the closet and removed everything stored from under the bed directly across from the closet. Ginllanza e-mailed fixit directly after she initially saw the mouse. Someone from the Residence Life set up traps in the room the same day.

No mice have been caught in the room. If the girls do catch any mice they were instructed by the person from the Office of Residence Life to e-mail fixit again and it would be removed quickly. According to Ginllanza, she was told by the Residence Life employee that an exterminator would be coming to fix the problem.

"I feel like they're doing a pretty good job," said Ginllanza. "It's kind of expected in such a big building."

St. Joseph Hall residents are also dealing with a rodent infestation problem. Jeff Anderson '11, Jamie Pelissier '11, and Dave Castellano '11, are residents of the basement of St. Joseph Hall. The first mouse they saw in their room was in September. They visited the Office of Residence Life the next day to report the sighting.

"We bought our own traps and we went back to Res. Life and they brought another trap," said Pelissier.

Three mice have been caught under Pelissier's bed. The boys suspect that the mice are getting into the room from the heater.

"There's been mice droppings all over the room and on my desk," said Anderson.

According to the roommates, Residence Life did not take action after the first report; however, after communicating further with the Office of Residence Life they learned that Residence Life had called an exterminator. They had been told that the exterminator had checked the room. As far as the three roommates are aware, the exterminator never came to their room.

"The college always responds as quickly as possible when there are reports of mice," said Steve Sears, Dean of Residence Life. "We recognize that this impacts the quality of life of our students."

According to Kevin Hillary, Assistant Dean of Residence Life, mouse problems have persisted in St. Joseph Hall since last year. The problems with mice usually return with the cold weather. This is year is the first year of recorded mouse sightings in Aquinas Hall and DiTraglia Hall.

Hillary visits rooms that have reported mice to Residence Life and places traps.

"We're [Residence Life Staff] not exterminators but we visit the rooms regularly," said Hillary. "We work as a team with Physical Plant."

Residence Life has given all students with mice in their rooms the option to relocate to another room on campus. The infested rooms will be checked regularly over winter break for signs of mice.

Walthan Services Inc., an exterminating company, has been contracted through Physical Plant to solve the problem. The company will be visiting infested rooms on Dec. 6. They were previously responsible for ensuring the health and safety of Alumni Hall and Raymond Hall.

"The students have been very cooperative," said Hillary.