After spending weeks getting themselves situated in the rooms and getting to know their roommates, some PLU students were met with an unpleasant surprise. With classes just having started, everything seemed perfect – until they spotted something crawling on their beds. Bedbugs in PLU residential buildings are becoming a real problem for many students.
“I started seeing bumps on my hands and … [thought they were from] spiders. I didn’t really think much of it, because, again, I’ve never seen a bedbug,” shared a first-year PLU student. After researching she discovered that “it was indeed a bedbug.” The student asked for help from an RA who also had little experience with bedbugs. First-year student Nuha Getachev experienced the same problem during the second week of school. “At first I didn’t think they were bedbugs. I thought they were bugs coming from the window. I have never heard or seen what bedbugs are.” After reaching out to both their RA and the RA on duty, they were instructed what to do. Throughout the process, the students felt discouraged: “After me and my roommate found out we had bedbugs I wanted to move out, I wanted to go home. We didn’t deserve any of this in our first or second week of college,” said Getachev.
PLU’s residential life resources state that trained staff or professional pest control services conduct detailed inspections for bedbugs. If bedbugs are confirmed, PLU uses heat, chemical treatments, or both to eliminate them. Temporary housing is provided for affected students during treatment, and belongings must remain in the room for proper treatment. Regular monitoring and timely responses help minimize the problem and maintain a healthy student living environment.
The Campus Safety response was startling for the anonymous student: “[They were] acting as if I was crazy.” The student shared that the PLU workers kept asking if they were sure about the bugs. “I have a literal bug in my hands. I have it in a ziploc. What started bothering me about this situation is that I just didn’t feel like we were being trusted and [it felt] like we were being accused of a lot of things,” she added. Eventually, the students were placed under the PLU bedbug protocol. Getachev and her roommate felt defeated by the experience: “We didn’t get as much help as we deserved. I was so stressed out and felt like breaking down every second. It was just me and my roommate doing everything. We were drained, especially trying to handle classes and assignments.”
While PLU has protocols in place to address bedbug infestations, students have experienced significant stress and frustration due to the university’s handling of the issue. Despite receiving temporary housing and guidance, students felt unsupported and overwhelmed as they struggled to balance the emotional toll of the infestation with their academic responsibilities.
