Brooklyn College Is Not, in Fact, Crawling With Bedbugs, School Officials Insist

Photo via Eddie Astudillo/Facebook

FLATBUSH, BROOKLYN — The media-relations folks at Brooklyn College are doing damage control Thursday after reports of a bedbug scare on campus blew up on the internet Wednesday.

"There's no infestation," Brookyln College spokesman Jason Carey insisted over the phone.

"Our exterminators came, they inspected, they destroyed, and then they went back to double check," he said.

The freakout began when students began posting reports to Facebook of bedbug sightings in the library and Boylan Hall, which houses one of the school's cafeterias.

"I squished this on my arm in the Georgian room behind the cafeteria," student Eddie Astudillo wrote in the Facebook group Brooklyn College: In the Know, next to a photo of a tiny reddish round thing (pictured above). "Is this a bed bug??"

Another student, Marsha Kayy, wrote: "Brooklyn College has bed bugs. My friend and I caught one in the library reserves thursday night. Some probably already knew this, but its REAL ! so hide your kids, hide your wife."

From there, the bedbug scare ballooned into an everybug scare, and students began posting photos of all sorts of weird crawly things around campus.

All bug-related posts in the Facebook group have since been trolled by a reporter from CBS New York who says she's coming to campus Thursday to interview witnesses and hunt down some bedbugs.

Brookyln College spokesman Jason Carey, however, said he's confident she won't find anything.

"We got the reports late last week," Carey said. "So between last week and this week, we had our facilities folks follow up on the reports and get the inspectors in. They got everything cleaned up."

Carey said the inspectors found two bedbugs during their sweep: One in the library and one in Boylan Hall. (R.I.P.)

And as for the other bugs? Carey said he believes more students are spotting insects of every variety because of the heightened awareness.

So no, he said, the school has taken no special measures against bugs on the whole. "Cockroaches get a warning this time," he said.

Francis Fitzgerald, head of Brookyln College facilities, sent the following email to the all-student listserv on Tuesday.

"Over the past week, we've received isolated reports of bed bugs in two separate areas on campus. Our pest control experts have conducted inspections and all areas have been treated. No additional activity (such as live insects, carcasses, or eggs) was identified. This confirms that these were stray bed bugs likely to have been inadvertently introduced from an external source.

Be assured that the college takes the potential existence of any pests on campus very seriously. We encourage insect sightings to be reported immediately to Facilities at 718-951-5885. All such reports remain confidential.

The college will respond to all reports by identifying the specimen, thoroughly inspecting the area, and, where warranted, treating the area following pest management best practices."

So consider yourselves reassured, students of Brooklyn College. But if you do happen to spot another bedbug all up in your study space, by all means, reach out: simone.wilson@patch.com.