Messy Men's Area Motivates Maids Strike At Dorm

COLLEGE PARK, Md. WUSA) - One sniff inside Easton Hall and your nose identified where you were on the University of Maryland-College Park campus.

"You would go up the elevator and immediately you could smell the 4th floor," said Allie Prout, a 4th floor resident.

For two weeks, the men living on the 4th floor of the dormitory had no cleaning staff to do the dirty work. It got pretty gross even by student standards.

"The trash wasn't taken up, The hallways weren't cleaned. The bathroom stalls, showers and sinks weren't cleaned," said David Markman, a 4th floor resident.

Some people say a few students showed disrespect for the housekeepers before the dorm's resident director suggested they go on strike and stop cleaning up after the 4th floor men. University officials say he was responding to vandals breaking fire exit signs, students leaving human filth on bathroom floors and people piling up trash in hallways. One incident involved mayonnaise spread all over a hallway floor for the housekeeper to clean up.

"It was disgusting. The floor was pretty much black, and it was pretty gross," said Ryan McKevitt, an Easton Hall resident.

Josh Weissman, another 4th floor resident, says a few students and their guests were responsible for most of the problems.

"Try to keep clean, throw out your garbage, don't leave stuff on the floor. I mean don't vomit on the floor," Weissman said.

The Director of Resident Life says the University did not know about the housekeeping time out until after students complained. Deborah Grandner says it is not the standard policy, but the resident director was trying a creative approach to correcting misbehavior.

"We're really trying to create a community where individuals respect each other and respect our housekeeping staff. It really reached sort of an intolerable state for the staff member that was working on the floor," said Grandner.

Markman says he hurt his wrist when he slipped on liquids leaking from trash not picked up. He and some other 4th floor residents say the strike was the wrong way to try to teach a lesson.

"It was just appalling. I wouldn't have expected that from an institution like this," Markman said.

"I understand the lessons they're trying to teach, but they didn't provide anyone with cleaning tools.

Some of the 4th floor men say they asked for mops and cleaning materials, but were told they could not be provided for them. Others say they can't control the behavior of other students.

"When I'm paying money to live here... I don't see why I have to police every single person who comes on to our floor because they're 40 different people," said Kevin Kubit, a 4th floor resident.

The mess on the 4th floor has been cleaned up. Some Easton Hall residents from other floors say the strike by the housekeeping staff was justified.

"I think it's fair and maybe teaches them a little bit of a lesson, but at the same time, it's pretty dirty to live there for a couple of weeks," said David Simkin.

"I think that was the right action to take. It's crazy, but they deserve to clean up after their own mess," said Stephen Cremona-Simmons.