The women's third floor bathroom in Carmichael Hall last Thursday was vandalized with excrement smeared across the walls.
According to residents, this was just the most recent occurrence of such acts of vandalism, which have persistently plagued the bathroom.
Janitors have also found fecal waste in the trashcan, the contents of which have also occasionally been thrown into the toilet, clogging it. Residents noted that these actions have tended to take place on weekdays.
Sophomore Amalia Toro Restrepo, who saw the defacement, believes that one person is responsible for these acts being committed in the bathroom.
"We're assuming it's the same person who has committed the vandalism," she said.
Stephanie Calnan, a sophomore who lives on the third floor of Carmichael and spoke with the janitor responsible for cleaning the dorm facilities on the affected floor, said that the acts of vandalism were hurtful and disrespectful to the American Building Maintenance (ABM) janitorial staff.
"The ABM worker considered it a personal insult, especially coming from her culture in El Salvador," Calnan said. "I feel so badly for her; she felt it was very degrading for her. She was upset, crying."
Calnan explained that while she was conversing in Spanish with the janitor in question, she initially thought that she was mistranslating something because she could not believe what she was hearing.
"It was so surprising and disgusting," she said. "Plus, it's not hygienic for other students on the floor."
Toro Restrepo stressed the impact that the incidents have had on both residents and janitorial staff.
"I know it might seem funny to some people, but in a dorm, the space you live in is shared with everyone," she said. "And you should understand that the janitor was very insulted. It has happened repeatedly. It was just very disrespectful."
Canlan noted that students often do not think about how their actions will affect other people.
"Sometimes people just think that a little maid comes or a little fairy comes and cleans up after them, but no, people come to clean up, and we need to be respectful of them," she said.
Sophomore Nick Perricone, co−chair of Jumbo Janitor Alliance, a group working to promote community between janitorial staff and students, expressed his disgust at the vandal's actions.
"It really shows a real lack of empathy or consideration that a person just like yourself, a hardworking person, will have to deal with it, and for no other reason than your own immaturity," he said. "Do people care that there are human beings that have to clean up their bathrooms?"
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