Cleanliness is Next to Kingliness: An overview of campus changes

A full breadth of changes took place around the campus of The King’s College over the summer. They ranged from the re-waxed tiles to repainted walls to a new -- and somewhat oddly placed -- statue in the lobby. Facilities has been busy on campus and, as the student body looks forward to the opening of the O'Keefe Student Union, the improvements around the building should not be missed even as more challenges arise.

Unlike the Lanphier statute, most of the changes were subtle enough to go unnoticed by upperclassmen flying by with packed schedules. And with the new class of students having no knowledge of what the campus used to be, here are a few highlights of the hard work of the staff at King’s.

Frank Torino is the Vice President of Finance and a member of the President's Cabinet. He is responsible for all budgeting, forecasting, financial reporting and accounting as well as Human Resources, while teaching accounting courses at King's on the side.

Torino oversaw the changes made over the summer, the largest of which was not a physical difference: the hiring of a janitor. Neither the expansion of the faculty offices or the re-waxing of the tiles have changed the cleanliness of the college as much as the hiring of Nick Tullo.

Previously, the people cleaning the college were workers of the building from whom we lease. This was acceptable during weekday business hours for maintaining the campus. However, King’s is also open on the weekends and, after two days of no cleaning and plenty of students, this was creating a disaster. The campus was bordering on being a sanitation hazard.

“This is the single largest change to the college since its founding.” said Torino.

The new, cleaner environment on Mondays has improved many students' attitudes, even without them knowing the precise reason. Said one student, who asked not to be named, "Mondays are just less depressing for some reason now.”

Some facilities still need updating. The security guards who raise and lower the gate each day -- required to lock the campus during closed hours -- report that the gear mechanism is failing.

"It took me half an hour to raise the gate this morning because the chain was slipping," said Thomas, a member of the security guard team hired at the beginning of this semester. "I don't know how much longer it's going to hold. And if it breaks then either I'm going to have to stay here all night in the lobby or students won't be able to get in for the morning."