Rodents have infested LBCC’s M building six months after its reopening, according to staff stationed in the building, forcing faculty to relocate offices and replenish teaching materials.
Upon returning to campus for the Spring semester, instructors found their offices surrounded by nests and other evidence of rodents. Droppings and yellow, liquid substances were seen spread across the chairs and desks of their M building corner office.
Gina Valentino, who’s worked as an LBCC English professor since 2016, described the office space as “unsanitary with clear debris of mice on the floors.”
Valentino’s office mate, English professor Brian Garcia, was the first to encounter their space in this state.
Garcia had work and personal items in the office that were ruined by the rodents. “It looked like a glue or honey on top of my desk… that was when I started to notice that on the seats there was actual pellets of feces and that sticky substance was all over my desk and all over my books.”
Holes in the ceiling were visible, which Garcia had initially dismissed as an electrical or construction issue, but rapidly came to the conclusion that something had chewed through the ceilings after seeing holes in multiple sites in the office. Administration was notified by Garcia on the same day.
According to Chip West, the Vice President of Business Services at LBCC, a private pest control company was brought in the following day to examine the area and set up traps.
The pest company has returned to the space twice since their initial visit to follow up on the traps set. As of Feb. 14, the traps have not produced any results.
There has been no physical evidence to prove if these rodents are mice or rats. Garcia firmly believes the rodents are rats stating, “It’s definitely rats. The fact that they’re coming in through the ceiling. Mice don’t do the damage that they did.”
When asked if evidence of rodents was found anywhere else in the building, West states he was only informed of droppings being found in suite M-130.
Garcia does not share this belief stating, “If they’re in M-138 and M-135, they’re in the walls.”
Both Valentino and Garcia have been moved into a new office while LBCC maintenance faculty continue to monitor the situation in their previous suite.
LBCC’s night custodial team has also been surveilling the building daily according to West.