Must we be marooned with mice? Stouffer residents moan

They squeak. They skitter. They scare. And now, they're in Stouffer College House. "When the weather gets cold the mice run inside," said Phil Genther, assistant director of residential maintenance. Genther said last week that the Stouffer main desk has received 12 reports of mouse-sightings this school year. He said that the mice come up from the Green Line subway, run through the ventilation system and into the students' rooms. "An exterminating company is doing an inspection to find out where they [mice] are coming from," Genther said. Many students said the mice are just located in sections A, B and C of the dormitory, and that last year the mice infested the other part of Stouffer, sections E and F. Wharton senior and Stouffer staff member Sam Geraci said it usually takes a while for the University to do anything about the mice problem. "We told the University, and they haven't done anything," Geraci said. But Genther said that once a problem is discovered, Residential Maintenance is on it the very next day. "We respond quicker than an exterminator would at your home," Genther said. He also said that mouse traps have been put out and are checked daily. "We have exterminators in every day," he said. But the rodent problem has happened before, many Stouffer residents said. In the past, some students have taken matters into their own hands, Geraci said, with mouse traps, poison or sticky paper traps. He also said these measures might be used now by some students because of Residential Maintenance's slow action. College junior Danielle Kane said the exterminators came Wednesday night and said she "got the impression from him that he was just doing the rooms that were complained about." Many residents said they are worried about rabid mice and are being distracted from their studies by mice that run past them. "It's difficult to study when it's like this," Kane said. Even with the many complaints about mice in Stouffer, some students living there said they have not heard about or seen any rodents. They said they just recently found out about the unwanted pests through a newsletter that was handed out last Wednesday night. Other students said that the mice have taken over Stouffer and that although section A is rumoured to have a cat there are still mice running wild in Stouffer. "I saw a mouse today in the bathroom of my floor," said College sophomore Daria Krupnova yesterday. The mouse ran past her and slipped into a hole near a urinal, she said. College sophomore Krystal Flowers said she was was absolutely outraged when she came face to face with one of the cheese-eating troublemakers. "This is ridiculous," she said. "This is supposed to be one of the better dorms." Flowers said she is upset that students pay a lot of money to live in Stouffer with its mice. She was also upset at the fact that nothing permanent has been done to solve the problem. "There shouldn't be all these nooks and crannies," for all the mice to get in from the subway, she said. Genther said he plans to hold a meeting to create a long-term solution to the problem. He added that there are mice in Stouffer because it is in such a popular area, surrounded by restaurants, a dining hall, stores and the subway. Cleo Bennett, a staff member at the dining hall, said yesterday that the mice have not descended into the Stouffer Dining Services building, although there have been problems in the past. Bennett addded that the problem was not only on campus, but that mice are all over the city. "Philadelphia is infested with mice," Bennett said yesterday. "The rodents own Philadelphia." (CUT LINE) Please see MICE, page 4 MICE, from page 1

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