Students living in Centennial Towers said they were disappointed by the university’s initial response after bed bugs were found in their suite on March 22.

According to sophomore Ian McDavid, the university moved him to an empty room in J-Mac and was unable to tell him exactly what happened to his room. He said the university did not inform him when it was safe to return. In addition, the chemical treatment caused $60 worth of damage to his personal items, he said.

“We first reported the problem on Friday,” said sophomore Natalie Roche, McDavid’s suitemate. “We went to the resident assistants who sent the resident director to talk to us. She told us to put our things in trash bags and wash our clothes.”

Roche said the university reimbursed them for laundry, as well as any damage the pest control caused including food and McDavid’s personal items.

After talking to the resident director, McDavid said he wished he’d been contacted more often.

“After that, from an official standpoint, we weren’t contacted [by the university] until I called them on Monday,” he said.

Roche said she chose to spend the night in a friend’s house for a couple days rather than moving into the safe room in Halls she was given by the university on Friday.

According to McDavid, the Towers front desk hadn’t informed them of any progress and was unable to answer questions about the condition of his room over the weekend.

“All I got for an answer was ‘I don’t know,'” he said.

“There were some times that we were kind of left in the dark,” said Roche, “There weren’t really any people to give us the answers.”

Patti Helton, associate provost of Student Life also said the system needs work.

“We are continually trying to improve the [bed bug] protocol, and this latest incident indicates that we still don’t have a best practice method of dealing with this issue,” she said. “We have staff working diligently to put together a more student-friendly and instructional process that better informs students and outlines the process.”

In addition, according to McDavid, his roommate was out of town at the time that the bed bugs were discovered. The university never contacted him about the situation. If McDavid hadn’t informed him personally, he could have come back to a chemically treated room, without any knowledge of what was going on.

“I just felt like neither of us were being contacted,” said McDavid. “I had to get all of my information from our next-door neighbors.”

McDavid moved back into his room late Monday, March 26, when he was sure that the chemical treatments were completed, although he hadn’t received official university approval.

Both McDavid and Roche said everyone involved in helping them did a great job. They said the system just needs more organization.

“I was really happy with some of the information we were given,” said McDavid. “For example, when maintenance came to talk to us on Friday they were extremely helpful, and I was impressed with the fact that they were in my room less than an hour after I reported it. Obviously they don’t want people to have bed bugs. They just don’t seem like they have their system perfectly figured out yet.”

According to Helton, there are several methods the university can use to rid a room of bugs.

“[How long a student is vacated] depends on which treatment is being used, which is why I believe there has been some confusion with our process,” she said. “Some students are comfortable staying in their room and then getting it treated, and some would like to vacate immediately.”

McDavid and Roche said that they could tell the university is making a strong effort to improve its bed bug protocol. They said they are optimistic that it will be better organized in the future.

“I was frustrated at first,” said McDavid. “But in the days following the incident they were phenomenal.”

McDavid and Roche agree the university realized its mistake and has been great about checking up on them to make sure they’re all right.

“I had bed bugs last year as well,” Roche said. “This year they handled it so much better. I think despite the problems we had, it’ll keep getting better in the future.”

The university said it hopes it will be able to avoid bed bug problems altogether in the future by making more of an effort to warn students in advance if their room is being sprayed.

DU also gave all residents of Towers pamphlets last Wednesday night warning students about the bed bug problem and explaining how to avoid an infestation.

“The most important thing to us is the safety and comfort of our students,” said Chase Squires, DU senior public affairs specialist. “This is something we really take seriously.

We accept that these things happen, but honestly, it is absolutely crucial to us that we catch anything like this early and protect the students who depend on us to provide safe, comfortable living quarters.”

According to Helton, 16 rooms and 30 students have been affected by bed bugs since the beginning of the school year.

In addition to McDavid’s and Roche’s suite, two other suites in Towers were also affected last week.