Sunderson says Dorm Crew is only operating at 60 to 80 percent of its capacity of two years ago--which was not 100 percent to begin with.

And absenteeism compounds the problem. Dorm Crew leaders say they have no way of guaranteeing students actually work the hours they sign up for.

"There's not much we can do," says head captain Emily O. Matthews '01. "We get in contact with them and see if we can bend it around their schedule."

Coverage is uneven across Houses and other dorms. Students typically ask to work in the Houses they live in.

In Lowell House, where Matthews is the team leader, there are eight students working. Lowell residents say their bathrooms are cleaned more or less regularly.

But other Houses are far more neglected.

Many students in Adams, Mather and several Quad Houses say their rooms have only been visited once or twice this year. Residents of overflow housing like DeWolfe and Claverly Hall suffer as well.

"Eliot, some of the Quad Houses and Leverett are down around 50, maybe even 40 [percent capacity]," Sunderson says.