After class some students head to the athletic field. Others rush off to one club meeting after another. Still others...clean bathrooms? These students have joined the "crew" that does no rowing. Rather, the 140 hardy souls in the Harvard dorm crew are paid to clean. Divided into 16 House teams led by fearless captains, these students get their workout scrubbing the floor next door.

There is some variety to a dorm crew routine, and some perks as well. Crew workers choose between dry work, taking out trash, sweeping and mopping; or wet work, cleaning bathrooms. Surprise--most workers say they prefer the bathrooms to the hallways.

Jason J. Sunderson '01, the Mather House Captain, says most workers initially choose dry work, but the appeals of the wet side soon become apparent.

"Newcomers usually like to start with dry work because most of them are anti-bathroom," he says. "They don't want to have to touch toilets or scrub showers or anything like that."

"But then they realize that wet work is much, much easier. The hours are much more flexible and if you repeat the same bathrooms over and over each week, then they don't get as dirty, and it's less of a job," Sunderson says.

The choice, then, is based on the perks involved in jobs that can soon occupy much of workers' time and dominate their Harvard extracurricular experience.

Dorm crew work is better than most students might expect. The high wages are attractive, but the tasks--like scrubbing other peoples' toilets--sway many students into accepting less messy desk jobs. Dorm crew workers make the best of their environs.

Emily O. Matthews '01, the Lowell House captain, says she likes wet work because she has time to think while alone in the bathrooms doing manual labor.

"It's actually a great place to think about the thesis for your next Expos paper," she says.

On occasion, workers even get academic advice from unlikely sources.

There is an advising network among dorm crew workers, but also in the friendly banter between workers and residents of the suites they're cleaning.

"Though I would never initiate a conversation with the people whose bathroom I was cleaning, they were always really cool with me and would talk to me," says Timothy P. Durrett '99, who has worked dorm crew for almost four years.

In addition to advice about classes, Durrett says he was lucky enough to receive gifts from students as well.

"I remember that one Halloween a group of guys even left me some beer," he says.

Although workers may occasionally converse with residents, wet work is frequently done alone in the bathroom, which some workers name as a drawback. Instead, they choose dry work for its camaraderie and the friends they make.