By Paul A. Anthony, Editor in Chief
Citing a tight fiscal year, the university announced over the summer that its cleaning service would cut back on cleaning office space this year.
WFF, which performs all the cleaning services on campus, used to clean offices and public areas five days a week. Now, all office areas will be cleaned just once each week.
“Dr. Money set some goals for us, and we’re doing our part to achieve those goals,” said Val Mascari, WFF director, referring to Money’s Oct. 1 speech that announced the reallocation process that has since led to the cutting of two departments on campus. “In the wake of that, every department including ours has had to tighten their belt.”
Mascari said WFF looked at the best ways to cut back that wouldn’t harm the school’s appearance and that cutting back on office space cleanup made sense. Several positions in the department have also been lost, but Mascari said those have been through attrition; no one was laid off.
Mascari worked in conjunction with Kevin Watson, director of physical resources, to implement the changes.
“We were looking for ways to bring the university’s operating budgets down, and this was one area we focused on to try and reduce the expenses,” Watson said. “We hope this does not adversely affect the common areas of campus or those used by most of the students.”
Mascari said some faculty and staff expressed concern, but it was more over making sure no one was laid off in the cutbacks and not over dirtier personal spaces.
“It doesn’t make much of a difference,” said Dan Mitchell, adjunct professor of guitar. “The only thing that’s bad is when I eat lunch and throw banana peels in the wastebasket, they’re gonna be there the whole week. That’s the only drawback. It’s no big deal to me.”
WFF will continue to clean study spaces in Brown Library and other buildings, Mascari said. He said areas that would and would not be cleaned every weekday were clearly delineated and that, for the most part, those affected have been cooperative.
“People have been very supportive,” Mascari said. “Everyone’s jumping in. They have their concerns, but they have a good attitude.”
