According to a post on the Spotted: McGill University Facebook page, a bedbug was seen in Students’ Society of Mcgill University (SSMU) student lounge in the Shatner Building on Friday, December 11.
A post published anonymously to the Facebook page at 8:30 p.m. on December 11 alleges that the poster “Was studying in SSMU lounge when a live bedbug started crawling up the couch.” The student claims that they “immediately sought the SSMU janitor [who first] pretended that there was nothing in front of the many people who were gathered around, then finally killed it and went out.”
In an email, SSMU VP Clubs & Services Kimber Bialik told The Daily that on December 2, a student had come to the SSMU office with “a suspicion” that there could be bedbugs in the student lounge.
According to Bialik, the lounge was immediately closed, and a pest control company was brought in to assess the lounge, which was deemed free of infestation.
“Despite having confirmation that there were no bed bugs, we kept the lounge closed for an additional few days to allow for a thorough cleaning of all of the couches, which was well overdue given the age of those couches,” said Bialik.
Bialik added that following the December 11 allegations, the lounge has been closed again and is likely to remain closed until December 22, the end of the exam period. A second inspection has not yet occurred.
“Right now we are looking into pricing for additional inspections, potential extermination, and potentially purchasing entirely new couches, and [we] will be developing our action plan based on that information,” Bialik said.