The Mouse Came Back

A furry diner returned to the Southern Connecticut State University caf — and it’s not quite clear if it’s the last time he and his friends show up to eat. 

At least that’s according to an associate professor at the university, who took a video of the mouse (above) and wrote in with a concern about ​“corrupt practices in the purchase of ingredients, unsafe food handling practices, etc.” with food service provider Chartwells Campus Food Services.

A mouse problem in the Michael J. Adanti Student Center was discovered, confirmed and ostensibly addressed last November. The associate professor, Eino Sierpe, reported that rodents have since been spotted still scurrying about the center and Connecticut Hall, where students dine daily. That included one sighting captured on Sierpe’s iPad last Saturday, as the mouse ran along the floor beside the salad bar in Connecticut Hall. 

As first reported by Southern News, a number of mice were found in the Michael J. Adanti Student Center last November, in its Dunkin Donuts shop. Dunkin was closed temporarily and set with traps; exterminators, on contract from Chartwells, were called immediately. At the time, SCSU facilities workers attributed the error (which they stopped short of calling an infestation) to open holes or wall cracks where mice might enter from the outside. Adanti Student Center Director Brad Crerar confirmed those reports at the time.

Also in late November, there were reports of mice in Connecticut Hall. Crerar did not confirm those at the time, according to Southern News.

Months later, Sierpe reported, those complaints and accompanying stories in the student newspaper had gone largely unnoticed. Then he spotted a lone mouse in Connecticut Hall on Feb. 25., which led to the decision to take video.

Reached for comment Wednesday afternoon, Crerar said he had been contacted about the mouse sighting in Connecticut Hall, and the university was on it. 

“We heard about this [sighting] on Saturday and an exterminator was contacted immediately,” Crerar said . ​“The exterminator removed the mouse from the building and there haven’t been any sightings since.”

“I can tell you I am not aware of any mouse sightings in the student center,” he added.

He added that he believes mice get in when food delivery people, often driving 18-wheeler trucks and carrying bulk amounts of food, leave a garage or cafeteria door open. The mice likely run in to heated spaces, he said, and then don’t run out.