On the week of April 17, students enrolled in media, film and journalism studies classes meeting in Mass Communications  classroom 119 were informed that, due to an infestation of flying ants, the room would no longer be used for the remainder of the quarter. Most classes were relocated to the Sié Chéou-Kang Center of the Korbel school.

Although Facilities Management sprayed the room multiple times prior to this announcement, they were unable to quell the infestation.

“I have been working with Pest Express and Ethan Crawford Director of technical services for the Mass Comm building) to come up with a solution to prevent/help with the ant infestation in classroom 119…Our maintenance shop is going to seal the floor board in the affected room and we have put Mass Comm (as a whole) on a seasonal service contract for the following months of May through September since this is a seasonal issue,” said Sam Thornton, who works in Facilities Management.

“As for the ants invading Mass Comm in the past, I’m sure there has been a repeated attack but don’t think it’s been this severe due to them finding headway through the cracks of the floorboards,” he also stated, regarding the possibility of previous issues in the room.