ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The University of Michigan is battling an outbreak of roaches in dorm rooms that has students in at least one building scrambling for cover.
Many freshmen who are kicking off their college careers in Markley Hall on Michigan's central campus are feeling as if they live in a roach motel. While the university said it's working on the problem, students said it has gotten way out of control.
"My mom and I found a dead roach by my door, so no, I haven't liked it since day one," Jaleesa Garner said.
A move-in day warning was the precursor to the issues.
"We just continue to see roaches all over our building, like, in the hallways, the stairs, the bathroom, in our rooms," Garner said.
Students slap cups over the roaches and slide paper underneath to capture and kill them. Freshman Alyssa Bolen said it's truly disgusting and affecting her studies.
"The other day, we found one, and it took half an hour to put the paper under it and take care of it," Bolen said.
The university knows about the problem. There is a billboard inside the main hallway containing information about how students can manage the problem themselves.
The university has also given the students roach traps for their rooms.
"The roaches don't go in (the traps)," Garner said.
"Dorms are dorms, but I expected them to be, like, decently nice, you know? Not have to be infested with any kind of bugs, let alone roaches," Bolen said.
University Housing released a statement about the roach problem:
"Pest reports are especially likely after a relatively warm and humid early fall. Anytime a student calls to report a pest, it is treated as a high priority, and the university's pest management team is brought in. Uprooting students from their homes in the middle of term is, overall, not the best strategy. We prefer to treat the problem itself, which we are now doing."
Garner and Bolen said moving is exactly what they want to do. They're roommates, and they said they feel that's the only solution.
The university's poster board tells students not to overreact and not to keep food or other things in the room that might attract the pests.