STAFF ED: Housing director should resign over bedbug situation

At what point is something so damaged, it's beyond fixing?

Is it when student employees are prompted to lie to their peers and fellow residents? Is it when, at worst, a university department actively withholds information from students about infestations that could affect them, and at best, fails to distribute information accurately?

If it's any of the above, the Daily Nebraskan editorial board declares University Housing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, directed by Sue Gildersleeve since fall 2011, beyond fixing.

Gildersleeve, as the head of University Housing amidst a series of lies and misinformation regarding a recent bedbug outbreak, should resign.

In a Jan. 23 editorial, the DN criticized Housing's late response to the appearance of bedbugs in Abel Hall and The Village. Housing failed to release any public information to students until after the DN and several local news outlets had already covered the situation.

The same day, Action 3 News Omaha arrived on campus to ask students directly, "Is the university trying to hide this ... problem?"

At first, it may not have seemed so — at least not so clearly. Housing stood behind a mantra of wanting to protect the privacy of the individuals involved. Though hiding a spreadable infestation for any reason should raise an eyebrow, the Housing statement seemed at least plausible.

We now know that is not the case. Housing actively withheld information on bedbugs at UNL, even after beginning daily updates. It disseminated reports understating the level of infestation in the Selleck 8000 building and instructed a resident assistant to lie to her residents.

According to testimony and emails provided by Selleck 8200 resident assistant Amanda Wekesser in today's story, Housing officials instructed her to not inform the rest of her floor that her room contained bedbugs. Housing then went on to publish a falsified version of events that downplayed the severity of the infestation.

The number of lies is appalling. First, Wekesser was told to not inform her residents of a bedbug outbreak occurring on their floor, despite expressing a desire to do so to Selleck residence director Corrine Gernhart.

Housing's excuse of wanting to protect the individuals involved no longer holds.

Second, Gildersleeve reported a single dead bedbug when there were in fact multiple live ones. Whether the information wasn't passed on to her by Gernhart or she chose not to reveal it, the situation is inexcusable. As the Housing director, it is her responsibility to be informed as well as honest.  

As the Housing director and the Selleck 8000 residence director continuously spread misinformation, the students living on Wekesser's floor had no idea to be cautious of bedbugs. Indeed, just Monday afternoon, Kristin Pokorny, a freshman meteorology major and resident on 6100, said she got a message on Facebook from her RA. The RA informed her residents that she had found an unconfirmed bedbug in her room. Housing sent a dog Monday evening to check only the RA's room.

In this case, the pests are relatively harmless, although so difficult to get rid of, they can necessitate disposing of clothes and property. But at this point, students can no longer trust Housing to accurately report any infestation that could potentially damage its reputation.

Two years ago, University Housing promptly informed students of an increased brown recluse spider population around campus. Were a similarly dangerous situation to occur again, the current Housing administration could not be trusted to disseminate the information accurately.

Also appalling is the fact that Facilities merely gave Wekesser a laundry card to wash her own clothes after confirming the bugs she discovered had "all the traits of a baby bedbug." Bedbugs are notoriously difficult to kill; without proper oversight, Wekesser's bedbug situation essentially went unchecked.

Worse still, Wekesser's problem appears to only be the last in a long line of resident assistants left feeling impotent to help their residents and intimidated by Housing. Wekesser echoed other RAs who've approach the DN with unpublished bedbug information throughout the past week when she expressed concern about speaking on record for fear of losing her job.

Wekesser said she is currently "debating quitting because I know the fallout is going to be bad."

She went on to characterize employment within Housing as "like the Iron Curtain."

The cause for Wekesser's worry: Housing's apparent desire to reveal as little information about the bedbugs as possible.

For all these reasons, the DN suggests Gildersleeve's resignation. If she truly believed there to only be one dead bedbug in Selleck 8000, the current Housing administration is guilty of gross miscommunication. And students face increased risk of infestation because of it. If she was responsible for handing down orders to lie to residents, as Gernhart was, resignation is not a subject of debate. Either way, she has headed a University Housing that, in the last five months alone, has bred a culture of intimidation and an inability to communicate effectively to students. There is no coming back from that.

To facilitate complete transparency from this point out, the DN has made a public records request for all emails sent to or from Housing staff pertaining to bedbugs since before the semester began.

From Gildersleeve at the top, to assistant residence life director Keith Zaborowski, who was carbon copied on many of Wekesser's emails, to Gernhart, who Wekesser says told her to lie directly, it seems apparent that it is time for Housing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to clean house.

opinion@dailynebraskan.com