Photo by Andreas Pelekis for The Lafayette

The Delta Kappa Epsilon house is one of several sites on campus of mouse infestation this semester. (Graphic by Angel Estrada ’28)

Several residence halls on campus have reported mouse infestations throughout the 2024-25 academic year.

Residents of the Delta Kappa Epsilon house on March Field said they returned to campus after winter break to a new mouse infestation.

“When we got back, there was a lot of mice feces and whatnot surrounding in all the rooms, so we had to deal with that the first week back,” house resident Jake Magnusson ‘26 said.

Magnusson mentioned that he spent “a day or two” focusing on deep cleaning his room after finding feces in his room. His housemates reported the infestation to Facilities Operations, which did not respond to requests for comment.

“They brought in a specialist to give us a ton of traps to put out, maintaining them over the next week,” Magnusson said. “They definitely helped.”

Magnusson estimates that more than five mice have been caught in the traps. He claims that many rooms in the house, including his own, still have traps set out to catch remaining mice.

Kamine Hall was first affected by mice in September, according to residents.

“We both had to purchase door traps, and I know that my roommate has decided to throw out all her food as a precaution,” resident Olivia Cox ‘28 said.

“I just remember in the beginning of the year, when we first found out about this, none of us were really prepared,” said Hannah Cohen ’28, another Kamine resident.

According to Andrew Drake ’28, the mouse infestation was so persistent that both he and his roommate in Kamine were permanently moved into Rubin Hall.

“I think the main problem was our air conditioning unit had a little hole by one of the pipes, and so they tried fixing it several times,” Drake said. “They weren’t able to fully seal it off, so that caused mice to come in that way.”

Drake did not move out after the first mouse was found, thinking it was a “one-time thing.” However, interventions from Public Safety and Facilities were not able to resolve the problem.

Director of Public Safety Jeff Troxell deferred comment to Facilities Operations.

“We found a mouse in a trap, and like at 3 a.m. we woke up to that mouse screaming,” Drake said. “So that’s when we permanently moved to Rubin.”

Drake estimates that they caught around five mice before they were permanently moved out. He says he and his roommate have not had issues with mice since moving.

Multiple Marquis residents have confirmed that they have not experienced further problems with mice since the extermination.

Tehlia Bendaat ‘28, a Marquis Hall resident who was moved to temporary housing following a mouse infestation in her room at the beginning of this semester, said she was able to return to Marquis Hall following a week-long extermination process.