Bees swarm McNeil Bldg.

For students with class in room103 of the McNeil Building, this week seemed like a scene from The Swarm. Between 50 and 100 bees took over the room for the past five days, forcing 10 classes to be moved as workers tackled the problem, according to Business and Building Administrator Tina Nemetz. The bees came from a beehive growing outside the building between the foundation and the wall, she said. Bees still remain on one of the main support columns of the building. When the bees were discovered, the room was immediately sprayed by exterminators. The bees have been slowly dying off since then, she added. While the room was back in use yesterday, Nemetz said that it will take several more days for all the bees to perish. Despite this, she said the problem is under control. "We haven't seen any live ones," she said. "So far, there is just a windowsill full of dead bees, and we will get that cleaned up today." Nemetz estimated that about 50 dead bees were piled up on the windowsill. Officials are still unsure of how the bees got into the room in the first place. "Exterminators are going to return to seal up any existing cracks so they don't come back in the spring," she said. Although all classes assigned to room 103 were relocated since last Friday, professors said this did not cause too much of an inconvenience. Graduate Chair and Associate Professor of Sociology Jerry Jacobs said his Sociology 650 class was moved Monday. "They moved my class, but it was no big deal," he said. "Nobody was bitten." Sociology Professor Jane Menken agreed. "It was very clearly no big deal," she said. "The University arranged for the class to be moved and they are taking care of the situation." Classes were held in the room as of yesterday afternoon.