Dorm Crew Must Fulfill Obligation to Students To the editors:
I do not deny that some Harvard students do not clean up after themselves, although the labeling of all Harvard students as "slobs" is ridiculous. This is all irrelevant, however, in the discussion on the ineffectiveness of Dorm Crew. The fact is that Harvard students of all levels of cleanliness pay for a service that is not provided. Dorm Crew is supposed to clean every suite's bathroom every week or, at the very least, every other week. My bathroom, as well as many others on campus, has been cleaned only twice this year. To put it simply, we are being ripped off.
If it continues to fail to recruit employees, I would propose two alternatives. One, that Dorm Crew hire professional janitors (who most likely earn less than $9/hour salary of a student Dorm Crew worker), or two, that Dorm Crew compensate rooming groups each time it fails to provide its service. A Dorm Crew worker does approximately $4.50 (for half an hour) worth of work per bathroom per week. If Dorm Crew misses a week, it can assume that the residents of the suite will clean their bathroom, but they should be paid to do so, as if they were temporary employees of Dorm Crew.
Personally, I have no objection to taking the responsibility of cleaning my own bathroom. But paying for a service that is barely provided is unacceptable.
Daniel Garcia-Pedrosa '02
Nov. 11, 1999
Read more in Opinion
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