By Sarah Huffman
This past Thursday, representatives from Aramark came to speak with the United Student Government (USG). Toyin Arubela, the food safety specialist for Rose Hill and Lincoln Center, Fatou Bokoum, the general manager for Rose Hill and Westchester and Mark Vallaro, the resident district manager for all three campuses, answered questions and addressed the concerns people had after the pest sightings in the last couple weeks.
They said there is a pest control company that comes in regularly to perform treatments and preventative measures, and Fordham Dining works closely with facilities to fill holes and cracks where pests could possibly get in and/or live. The speakers said they have inspections all the time and have a very experienced health and safety specialist.
Vallaro said all deliveries go to the McGinley Center before being distributed to the rest of campus. He said pests could come in through all deliveries that are made to McGinley, including mail and other supplies. The plans for a new McGinley Center include a new dining space, but in the meantime the space needs to be maintained as much as possible he said.
Vallaro said that pest control ussually comes in once a week, but recently have been coming daily and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Arubela said individuals do routine treatments for pests as well as look for cracks and crevices as preventative treatment. She said the pest control specialists are called in anytime there are sightings or whenever else they are needed.
The panel said they keep a log of sightings and incidents that occur. Senator Danielle Terraciano, FCRH ’19, asked if there was any way if that log could be made public. She said there seems to be a discrepancy between the amount of incidents being reported and what students are experiencing.
Terraciano also said it would be helpful to know where specifically students could report sightings. Vallaro said they could put together a list of managers on their website so students know who to talk to about sightings. The panel encouraged students to contact the staff with any concerns or comments.
