Holt says she agrees, noting that she remembers receiving more complaints of neglected bathrooms last spring than during the current shortage.

Clean Bathrooms?

With a few exceptions, House bathrooms are supposed to be cleaned once a week, and Yard bathrooms are expected to be cleaned every two weeks. But with fewer students working fewer hours, some undergraduates are finding that their bathrooms haven't seen a scrubber for as long as a month.

Crew captains acknowledge that the weekly schedule has been distorted in recent months.

Medina says students are typically kind when complaining. "It's understandable that people will complain because we offer a service, and we do our best," he says, adding that customer response helps improve service.

Daisy A. Stanton '00 is one student who called the Dorm Crew office to complain. When she and her roommates moved into a Claverly Hall room that had been occupied last semester, she was disappointed to find that Dorm Crew had not come.

"There was furniture and trash everywhere. It was so foul," she says.

The Dorm Crew office told her about the shortage when she called earlier in the week, but as of yesterday afternoon she says her room had not been cleaned.

Feedback is not exclusively negative. Students often send complimentary e-mail messages about their Dorm Crew workers. After the introduction of new adhesive notices printed with the Dorm Crew e-mail address, the office received over 100 e-mails this semester--almost five times the amount received all last year.

Recruiting and Rebuilding

Although two-thirds of worker vacancies have been filled during the past month, Dorm Crew Supervisor Robert F. Wolfreys and his staff still must scramble to keep up with the high turnover rate.

Now forced to compete against the allure of the $2,000 reduction in student aid loans or a dramatically lightened work-study schedule Dorm Crew leaders say their group has adopted a strategic and business-oriented outlook.

Crew leaders and workers say their concern about vacant spots stems from a commitment to performing their jobs well. They also acknowledge that in the end, their positions--and their paychecks--depend on the group's ability to perform its cleaning duties.

"We're under contract with the superintendents of the Houses but if they really wanted to, they could get rid of us," says Obiora I. Menkiti '99. "Ultimately, our responsibility is to them and at some level that's a threat."

Dorm Crew will weather this storm, Wolfreys says, but he admits the group is aware its services can be performed by others.