As Bryan Hall students are enjoying another four hours of sleep before they press the snooze button on their alarm, Louise Kearse and Bessie Carter arrive at Guilford at 5 a.m. to sweep cigarette butts that students threw into the quad and pick up the cans that failed to make it into the trash. These women arrive at Guilford at 5 a.m., clean Bryan Hall, Hege Cox and the student apartments laundry room, leaving at 1 p.m. when their workday is through.

Kearse has been a Guilford employee for almost two years and she was eager to share with me what students could do to make her job easier. “Students could flush the toilets and quit putting food and trash in the sanitary napkin deposits,” said Kearse. She continues to question why students must throw their cigarette butts into the quad: “I have to clean-up something that (the students) are doing on purpose.”

Kearse does enjoy her job, but explained that “it is too much work for one person.” Not only do Kearse and Carter clean up after all the Bryan residents who throw cigarettes off the balcony, but also they must pick up the trash, outside of suites, that often attract raccoons and possums. Taking trash to the dumpster may constitute more work, but it improves the safety for those that clean many of your bathrooms.

When Kearse walks into Hege Cox at early hours to find someone sleeping, she is never sure if that person is a student or someone who has wandered off the street, who could pose a danger to her. “It could be anyone making a home,” said Kearse. Perhaps more art students should make the effort to meet both Kearse and Carter, so that these women would not feel frightened while they are at work.

As a former Bryan Hall resident, I did not fully appreciate the role that both Kearse and Carter played in my life last year. Upon my return from this past fall break, I noticed a brown scum that had grown around the edge of the inside of the toilet in my apartment. I then realized this was the first time my roommates and I did not have someone to clean our toilets for us. It was Kearse who had been taking responsibility for the mess my five roommates and I made when I stayed in Bryan on the third floor.

As able 20-somethings, Guilford students absolutely have the ability to find a way to rinse our dishes and put them back where they belong. Even easier tasks include throwing cigarette butts in a trashcan or finding ashtrays to put outside of Bryan suites.

At a college that strives for equality, we need to thank and be considerate of Kearse, Carter and all the Guilford employees who work to maintain the pleasant atmosphere that everyone enjoys on Guilford campus.