Written by Da-Hyun Lee

Although Incheon Global Campus dormitory, established in Songdo, South Korea in 2000, and is currently accommodating UAC, GMU, GHENT, and SUNY students, provides some cleaning supplies, more and more UAC students claim that they are experiencing inconvenience due to the lack of cleaning supplies.

According to the security officers of dorm A and dorm B, the housing office offers four vacuum cleaners and a few toilet plungers, but almost all students participated in the interview said that the quantity is not sufficient for use by over 150 residents.

Amanda Lee, a communication major at the UAC, claims that there is an urgent need to implement more cleaning supplies in the dorm buildings.

In an interview, a UAC student stated: “The cleaning tools offered for student use by the housing office are insufficient, outdated, and unsanitary. This is because the cleaning supplies also tend to get unsanitary quickly since many people do not clean the supplies after they use them, something that is unappealing to us.”

Many students also do not return the supplies promptly, so even when students go to try and borrow some, they will not be able to.

According to the cleaning supplies log in the housing office, many students tend to return the cleaning supplies they have used many days after they have checked them out. When such situation keeps happening, other students cannot make use of the supplies when they need it as well, making the cleaning supplies of even less use to the general student body.

Ms. Choi, a resident advisor for UAC students, answered that not only the insufficient quantity of cleaning supplies but also the limited amount of time for borrowing cleaning supplies are the main reasons that students are dissatisfied with the current system.

According to the housing policy, borrowing cleaning supplies requires filling out the forms that are found in the housing office, for permission. Unintentionally, this procedure resulted in increasing students’ dissatisfaction as considering that both the housing and security offices have limited office hours.

Supplies can only be borrowed during certain parts of the day from 9:00 AM to 10:00 PM (excluding lunch and dinner time). Jack Park, a sophomore at the UAC, said that because many students have class until later in the afternoon or after-school commitments to adhere to, they are not able to access the supplies when they are most able to use it.

As a solution, Ji-Yeon proposes the housing office to stock more basic cleaning supplies to meet the students’ needs as no actual actions have been taken yet. She said, “Considering that the majority of UAC students live on campus, the school should carefully ponder upon the request of students for the sake of a better environment and an active interaction between the University and the students.”

The Center for Facilities Research at the Association of Physical Plant Administrators found that clean environment contributes to a student’s academic success by distracting students from concentrating on their studying.

Kenna Hansen, a psychology major at the UAC, argued that unclean, untidy environment could be detrimental to students. In other words, a lack of cleanliness in the dorm causes students to be susceptible to illness.

Overall, the dorm environment can play a crucial role in allowing students to be successful in the UAC school life. Helin, a dorm resident, answered that although she is now dissatisfied with the current cleaning supplies, she would be much more inclined to make use of it more often if it were more accessible and if there were more options.”