<p>Our daughter has been seeing an increased number of rats running around the campus at night particularly coming from the dumpster areas near the dorms. Who is in charge of rectifying this problem?? She has complained before, but the problem is worsening. This is unhealthy!!! Also the Tavern area is filthy, trash spilling over and very sticky floors. Who is in charge?</p>
<p>God you complain alot. Its a university in the city, tell your daughter to get over it.</p>
<p>What going on there?!
a) Mrs. Frizby’s rats escaped again from NIMH
[Amazon.com:</a> Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh (Aladdin Fantasy) (9780689710681): Robert C. O’Brien, Zena Bernstein: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Frisby-Rats-Aladdin-Fantasy/dp/0689710682/ref=pd_sim_b_74]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Frisby-Rats-Aladdin-Fantasy/dp/0689710682/ref=pd_sim_b_74)
b) It’s part of a biology dept. field study
[Amazon.com:</a> Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants (Alex Awards (Awards)) (9781582343853): Robert Sullivan: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Rats-Observations-History-Unwanted-Inhabitants/dp/1582343853]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Rats-Observations-History-Unwanted-Inhabitants/dp/1582343853)
c) Those are really Congressmen running around the AU campus at night
[Amazon.com:</a> Hill Rat: Blowing the Lid Off Congress (9780895265296): John L. Jackley: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Hill-Rat-Blowing-Lid-Congress/dp/089526529X]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Hill-Rat-Blowing-Lid-Congress/dp/089526529X)
d) It’s really is just life in the big city and Washington, DC is one of the filthiest cesspools of them all.
[Washington</a> Is A Foul Hellscape Of Rats](<a href=“Wonkette | Rebecca Schoenkopf | Substack”>Washington Is A Foul Hellscape Of Rats - by Ken Layne)
[Inside</a> Wild Blog- Nat Geo Wild](<a href=“National Geographic TV Shows, Specials & Documentaries”>National Geographic TV Shows, Specials & Documentaries)
e) Both (c) and d)</p>
<p>If you chose answer (e), you are correct.</p>
<p>AU is not in the center of the urban area of D.C… It is very suburban in a very upscale neighborhood. The rats are gathering around the dumpsters which could be rectified by placing traps or other methods. I attended a university in a very urban part of a city, and there were never any rats scurrying everywhere at night. The place needs to be kept clean including the Tavern area which is inside!</p>
<p>WHAR IS THE AUTHORITY? WHAR?!</p>
<p>Well first – let us be clear: there are no rats inside the Tavern – or indoors at all. Trash cans do get full as we at AU are responsible students and clean up after ourselves. Then they get emptied. If you pass a trashcan that is full, it is because a peak time at Tavern and they’ll get around to it in a timely manner. </p>
<p>This entire semester (and I have night classes and spend a lot of time in the library that leaves me wandering campus at night a lot) I saw ONE rat. I was an adult about it, and it scurried off. The rats around AU are not for a lack of cleanliness – and why is your daughter hanging around the dumpster-centric areas of the dorms? Those are WELL off the normal paths of travel for students. This is just something that happens: just like other pests, occasionally you just get an problem. In 2005 it was Dupont Circle, and in 2006 it was Glover Park. It is the nature of a city. </p>
<p>It’s not a simple blame game. Traps and ‘other methods’ are words that are easier to say than be put into action. A large population of birds in DC were killed when rat poison was used to combat the infestation in Dupont and Glover Park. It is also a question of proper trash removal – by the restaurants in Tenleytown, and by the students at American University. Let’s face it: students get drunk and drop their McDonalds fries or leave their takeout container in the amphitheater or on a bench. </p>
<p>Take a deep breath. They’re not swarming to attack people, they’re not carrying the black plague – they’re not swarming at all. Be an adult, realize that the cold that’s coming will make them go away and stop using headlines that get a lot of people worked up for no reason. </p>
<p>[P.S. Posting on the last day of finals isn’t going to make the people who think you’re a student with a sick sense of humor and an excessive amount of free time change their mind any faster.</p>
<p>The vagrants used to scare the rats away, but somebody complained about the vagrants.</p>
<p>The rats are a serious and worsening problem. They do spread disease and this shows that AU is not caring about their students or the community as a whole. My daughter and her friends, who are currently staying with us, said they encounter rats there every night crossing the paths and during the day as well sometimes. In addition, there are dead rats in many areas around the dorms and particularly around the ampitheater area. Who would be in charge of the rectifying this problem??? This should not be ignored as it is a disservice to the AU community. They said they do not recall this large number of rats last year.</p>
<p>Dear College Confidential Posts Manager:</p>
<p>My daughter and her friends have alerted us about a rat infestation at AU, and the other posters who have negatively responded to my concerns are attacking me, as I only truly care about the kids there and rectifying ongoing problems, instead of covering up or playing down problems for public relations purposes.</p>
<p>[killer</a> shrews - Google Search](<a href=“http://www.google.com/images?q=killer+shrews&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=p-AKTeu6MYPQsAPKq9HzCg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQsAQwAA&biw=1024&bih=429]killer”>http://www.google.com/images?q=killer+shrews&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=p-AKTeu6MYPQsAPKq9HzCg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQsAQwAA&biw=1024&bih=429)</p>
<p>Mini: I am not saying that the situation is as severe as the shrews, but it is my opinion that the rats should be eradicated, because their numbers have increased from last year, and this is not an acceptable environment for the kids or the staff there. It is not a big deal to for the maintenance staff to go around to all the trash areas and take care of this. Ask your daughter if she has seen rats around the campus this year (at night) and my guess is that she has. The tuition should cover keeping a reasonably clean environment without rats, as many as 5 five crossing your path at night. Disgusting to say the least.</p>
<p>DC has a huge rat problem, even in the nicest neighborhoods. I think it always has. That’s what you get when you build a city on swampland. Of course the University should be doing what it can (and I suspect that it does) but regardless of what it does, there still will be rats. The other DC schools have the same problem.</p>
<p>Gagged a bit :(</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Are you sure?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I thought dead rats was what you wanted.</p>
<p>Oh No! We’re being ratted on!!!</p>
<p>This is always entertaining.</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that we paid for the upgraded “no rats” plan. it hasn’t been 100% perfect – D has seen an occasional rodent – but I figure overall it’s worth it. It’s very important to me that my darling child never experience anything unpleasant in her world.</p>
<p>My D and her roommate have started naming them. They seem a little cuter when they have names.</p>
<p>Like the killer shrews, they are growing bigger by the day because of their exposure to radioactive isotopes. They’re called “wonkrats”.</p>
<p>WONK RATS HAHA
i’m a freshman at au. honestly, the situation isn’t that bad. i see rats every so often outside at night, running across the amphitheater and sidewalks. however, i’ve never seen one inside a building or in the daylight, and they certainly aren’t aggressive. it’s more comical than anything else. rats are the least of au’s problems. their new horrendous marketing campaign is much more worrisome than a few rodents.</p>
<p>I’d worry more about the WWI mustard gas that was buried under the campus in 1919 than the rats. Maybe if the rats tunnel under the ground, the mustard gas will take care of them.</p>