Tuesday, May 5, 1998
Dedicated custodial workers make clean sweep of UCLA
CAMPUS: Employees work late night hours to maintain sanitary
rooms
By Lawrence Ferchaw
Daily Bruin Contributor
When the only students on campus are studying at Powell, some
UCLA employees are just beginning their day.
After the daily rush and destruction campus endures, a small
army descends upon the university to undo all the damage.
In Knudsen 1200, Tina White emphasizes the importance of the
work that she and her colleagues do, as she mops the floor.
"Our job is more important than a professor’s," said White.
"Actually it’s the most important because if the class is not
clean, then it’s unsanitary and has to be closed."
Facilities Management employs about 200 people to clean
approximately 195 general assignment classrooms, restrooms,
hallways and offices nightly.
These employees arrive at the university at 5:30 p.m. and start
cleaning the restrooms, offices and hallways. At 10 p.m. when the
classrooms are no longer in use, the custodial staff begins
cleaning the classes, which takes until 2 a.m.
"I empty the trash, arrange the chairs, erase the chalk boards,
wipe off the tables, and sweep and mop the floors," said Nancy
Pascua, a custodian at UCLA for nearly 12 years. Each night, she
cleans five classrooms.
Pascua has always worked at night cleaning the classrooms, even
though her husband wishes she would not have to work so late.
"He doesn’t want me to, but I have to come," she said, pointing
out the pay and the full benefits that she receives.
Career custodial employees receive full health benefits, a
position that comes after a probation period when the benefits are
more limited.
Spending time with her family has been a problem for Monique
McClendon who has worked at UCLA for a year.
"I have a 9-year-old and a 5-year-old at home. I don’t have
quality time with my kids Monday through Friday," said McClendon,
noting the importance of the weekends and her husband’s help.
McClendon works in Royce Hall, a building which she said
students go "easy on."
But McClendon said she has seen it all in her year at UCLA.
Before working at Royce, she cleaned Powell library.
"The students in Powell are obnoxious. They write on the walls,
and that’s something my boss makes me clean up," McClendon says
while pulling on her gloves, ready to enter a small lecture room in
Royce.
In general, McClendon said that she gets upset when students
think of her and her co-workers as their personal servants. "Think
of us as humans," McClendon said.
History Professor Mortimer Chambers urges his classes each
quarter to be considerate and clean up after themselves.
"I find it insulting to these faithful custodians to leave piles
of rubbish in the room for them to clean up as if they were our
servants," Chambers said.
"It is extremely easy to pick up one’s own Daily Bruin, one’s
own styrofoam cup, and deposit it in the very ample receptacles
that are all over the campus," he continued.
Chambers noted his experience in the army as part of his
reasoning for encouraging students to pick up their trash.
"Now, this is not boot camp, we are a university, but the
attention to this kind of discipline I think is not misplaced," he
said.
By the end of the day, when multiple classes have met in each
room, the dirt piles up. "If people are mindful, the place will
look decent," said Jack Powazek, assistant vice chancellor in
charge of facilities management.
"I’ve not seen a Daily Bruin walk its way to the trash," he
continued, emphasizing how much he and his staffers appreciate
students’ help.
Even if students picked up their trash, custodians would still
need to clean the chalk boards and mop the floors.
While Powazek said he would appeal directly to the students for
their help, Chambers said he thinks the faculty also has a role to
play.
"I would urge all instructors to make the point to get the
students to leave the classroom as clean as they’d like to find
it," Chambers said.
Not all students disregard the work they do, the custodians
noted.
"I love some of my students. They’re nice to me, they kind of
help me out – not that I need it," said McClendon as she pushed her
cart into another classroom. At 11:30 p.m., she still had a couple
of hours to go.