By Maddy Bartsche
It’s the start of a new semester and there’s chatter in the hall. 1Ls complaining about torts and legal writing. 2Ls stressing over law review or the upcoming mock trial tournament. 3Ls wondering how they will find the motivation to finish law school. But, amongst the typical worries, a new concern arises in the minds of CSU Law students—bed bugs!
On the morning of August 27th, Kevin R. Garewal, Assistant Professor & Director of the Law Library, sent out an email to the student body informing them that “[l]ate yesterday afternoon, a student reported that a chair on the ground level of the law library had what appeared to be bedbugs on the fabric.”
Garewal contacted CSU Environmental Health and Safety Department who confirmed bed bugs were in the chair and sent over an inspector. Garewal explained that “[t]he inspector sprayed the immediate area where the bugs were discovered. Additionally, we have scheduled an exterminator for this afternoon who will further inspect and remediate the area. We will keep the ground floor of the law library closed until we receive the report and further guidance from the experts, and we will update everyone once we know more.”
Vic Schroeder of Emerald Green Pros, a lawn care and pest control company, states that overall, the school response of isolating the area and calling an exterminator was good.
Students became aware of the bed bug investigation hours before the administration sent out a formal email. Fearful of the mayhem of a bug outbreak, students frantically emailed their professors asking for a Zoom class option.
Third year student, Susannah Schroeder, adds, “I’m a little extra nervous since bed bugs are one of my fears, but if people had known before it had happened it would have been less of an event in my mind.”
Carolyn Broering-Jacobs, Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs, responded to student concerns: “I have been told that some students are concerned about coming to class given the report of bed bugs on a chair in the law library. I understand – bedbugs are a serious concern. However, we have no information to suggest that this is anything other than an isolated incident in a discrete location. Consequently, classes will proceed in person, as scheduled.”
Students continued to be nervous about whether attending classes in-person was wise.
On August 28th Broering-Jacobs sent another email informing students that CSU faculty is taking a multi-prong approach to the situation including inspection, spraying an EPA-approved non-toxic bug killer, hiring an exterminator, performing extra cleaning, and continuing to monitor the situation.
“Based upon further inspection, both the law school and university facilities teams are confident that this is an isolated incident. The facilities team is confident that this is an isolated situation and not an infestation. There has been no indication of an infestation or presence of bed bugs in any other location in the building,” Broering-Jacobs adds.
The need for two emails addressing the bed bug issue may hint at a deeper mistrust between faculty and students.
Grace Zaubi, 2L, states, “I'm not sure I trust the way the bed bug issue is being handled. Bed bugs spread so easily through a building, especially one with mostly carpeting and upholstered chairs. I'm very concerned about potentially bringing them home. I also want to know what CSU is doing to prevent this issue from happening again in the future.”
CSU facilities have continued to monitor and clean the area.
Garewal shares, “The library staff and I continued to walk the floors the following week looking at chairs and desks to be an extra set of eyes on the seating. All indications at this point are this was an isolated incident, but we are staying vigilant to try and not have a repeat of this incident. “The well-being of our community is critical to us,” Garewal added.