June 6, 2003
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HHkI
Photo illustration Colleen Froehlich and Jessica Waters Emerald
Some students dread end-of-year cleaning
btuaents snare expenences
about cleaning and offer tips
about fixing damages and stains
Jonah Schrogin
Freelance Reporter
While the prospect of moving can
be exhilarating, the thought of clean
ing a residence hall room or an apart
ment before moving out may be
more than depressing. Some stu
dents risk getting fines or losing their
cleaning deposits for neglecting their
rooms. Students must find various
ways to mend the damage, from
nasty stains to clouds or dust.
“The end of the year is just not as
much fun (as moving in),” sopho
more Terry Siriphatnaboon said.
“You’re pissed off because you’ve just
had to go through finals, and study
ing for that is hell. Then you have to
spend hours and hours trying to
clean up your room in between
studying for finals.”
She said it takes several days to
completely clean a room
“You don’t even realize how much
junk you crammed into this room
until you try to clean it out,” she
said. “Everything has to be spotless;
everything has to be gone.”
In the residence halls, damages
are assessed according to the Room
Condition Report that all residents
fill out at the beginning of the year. If
the custodian finds damage in the
room that was not originally marked
in the Room Condition Report, resi
dents will be charged accordingly.
Another campus veteran, sopho
more Greg Bilstad, had some advice
about avoiding fines.
“If you put anything like tape or
adhesive on the window sill, or
around the window, you’re going to
need to scrub for a long time because
the sun bakes it on there,” he said.
He suggested using Windex or oth
er liquids that help dissolve sub
stances that stick to the walls or win
dows. Some other things he found
helpful include using white correc
tion fluid to cover up holes in the
wall and a gob of sticky tack to col
lect sticky remnants on the wall.
Other residence hall residents had
ideas about how to avoid damage
charges, such as flipping the bed
board upside down in order to hide
stains and moving the upper bed
board to the lower position to hide
scratches. Residents also suggested
using Oxi Glean to remove stains on
the carpet, using a wet sponge to
loosen tape the sun has baked onto
the window and filling holes in walls
with toothpaste or putty.
Some damages to the room are
easy to fix, but others like stains and
broken furniture are more difficult.
“The barbecue sauce is going to be
pretty bad,” said freshman Robert
Stroup, who stained the area around
his desk while watching a DVD.
“(It’s) all around the computer. It’s
the only place to eat when you watch
a nice DVD.”
Turn to Cleaning, page 6B
The Spot, SunSpot—
close to campus
The boarding houses
offer small community
living
Page 5B
Nearby.apartments
Ducks Village and others are
convenient student apartments
Page 3B
Furnishing at low cost
Thrift stores provide bargains
for students with low budgets
Page 4B