Move-in
The annual Move-in takes a great deal of careful planning. Every fall, area managers armed with directions fan out across the campus to assist incoming parents and students. They work with the Office of Residence Life, BU Housing, and the Boston University police department to answer questions for the new students.
During the summer, custodians perform cleaning that cannot be done while students are present on campus. This includes shampooing the carpets, stripping and waxing the floors, and washing the walls. They are busy from May through August with people moving in and out of the dorms while attending summer classes, camps, conferences, events, etc.
Before the students move in, hundreds of Custodial staff make sure everything is cleaned up after summer improvement projects and students in summer housing have moved out.
Move-out
The end-of-year Move-out is the equivalent of a marathon for the more than 400 Custodial staff at Boston University. In only 3 days, custodians clean 672 rooms in Warren Towers. In South Campus and on Bay State Road, custodians have about six hours to clean and prepare the rooms from when students move out at 10 a.m. to when new students move in at 4 p.m. Custodians across campus work together to clean 624 rooms in South Campus and 450 rooms on Bay State Road. This is a huge undertaking for custodians, painters, and maintenance staff who work quickly but carefully to provide students with clean, safe places to live.
As soon as students move out, maintenance workers replace ceiling tiles and windows. Painters patch up walls. Carpenters and plumbers fix any issues in apartments and dorm rooms. All the custodians work together, coming in early and staying late to ensure students move into the best living environment possible.