Historically, it is understood that giving a mouse a cookie will create a whole host of problems.
At Indiana University’s Media School, faculty are realizing that a home is a more dangerous provision for the critters.
Craig Lyons, managing editor at the Arnolt Center within The Media School, is all too familiar with creatures making their way into the building. Having spent five years there, Lyons said it is not a new issue.
“You know, they’re just here,” Lyons said. “But I have noticed it’s been in various parts of the building that there’ve been historic issues with mice.”
Mice are not the only animal which currently calls Franklin Hall home.
Lyons says the school plays host to several others.
“We have the cockroaches, but those are just a regular part of our existence here,” Lyons said. “[We also have] the occasional bat.”
Lyons recalled one occasion where a bat visited some students last summer.
“I think it was grad student orientation last year there was a dead bat in the room,” Lyons said.
Lyons pointed to staffing as one of the main issues for the invaders making themselves at home at The Media School.
“Janitorial service has been, you know, inconsistent because of some of the staffing issues they’ve had the last couple of years,” Lyons said.
As a result, staff are encouraged to take extra precautions to keep the building clean.
This includes keeping all food sealed, not leaving dirty dishes, and using common trash cans as opposed to office trash cans.
These preventative measures can help, but Lyons says a different variable is more difficult to control.
“Heavy construction activity… tends to drive things out,” Lyons said. “They often go looking for a home, and so since we are here, The Media School tends to be a stomping ground for vermin.”
The Media School sits on the western border of the IU campus, thus a victim of proximity to downtown Bloomington construction.
At the same time, it is near enough to flora to further encourage visiting fauna.
“Between the proximity to the campus river to Dunn Meadow to Dunn Woods, it's not a surprise to anybody that there would be wild creatures around here,” Lyons said.
Indoor creatures are not all that bother Media School visitors lately. Staff were also recently updated about an outdoor nuisance not far from the entrance.
Just a few paces from the Franklin Hall door, a pine tree has become home to a swarm of green June beetles.
The noisy and active insects have frightened occupants enough to file several maintenance requests. The update from Jay Kincaid, Director of Facilities and Technology at The Media School, tells staff that though they are “intimidating,” the beetles are harmless.
The Media School is currently hosting the National High School Journalism Institute, as well as incoming students for orientation.
