Synopsis

Mass hysteria has swept the UNB Saint John campus over the course of the last several weeks in the wake of the bedbug outbreak that plagued Oland Hall. Several students claimed to have been bit by the parasitic insects while university officials stayed silent on the matter. News teams from both Global News and CBC published articles on the subject only days later. 

Now, looking back a few weeks later, what really happened and what is to be made of this bit of bedbug bedlam is still uncertain. Conflicting reports, social media madness, and bungled bureaucracy have reduced the situation to a sociological case study in misinformation. Keeping all of this in mind, what can and can’t be said should all the same prove interesting.

Elizabeth Williamson/The Baron

The Details

What can be said with certainty is that the outbreak began in the Hans W. Klohn Common on campus sometime around early-to-mid February of this year. A report of bedbugs being spotted in the HWK Common on the main floor’s couches was circulated around that time. Although, some have alleged that there were bedbugs in the residence buildings even preceding that, but as of now, this has gone unverified.

Following that alleged outbreak which was quickly treated by a team of ORKIN pest exterminators contracted by the university, a student that will remain anonymous filed a report with the administration that they had been bitten by a bedbug as a result of their time spent on campus. This student’s concern went unaddressed, and their complaint was mostly ignored by the university.

Soon after, sometime around early March, the university was informed that there was a suspected infestation of bedbugs on the top floor of Oland Hall. Classes in the building were canceled or relocated that week without a formal reason ever being provided. This lack of transparency on the part of the university combined with the already prevalent concern of bedbugs on the UNB Saint John campus incited an unanticipated uproar.

Bedbug Bedlam

Panicked students who were concerned about the possibility of other bedbug outbreaks on campus quickly hopped on social media to question the university’s unwillingness to disclose why Oland Hall’s top floors classes had all been canceled. 

Already frustrated by the university’s stonewalling, several students who alleged that they had been bitten by bedbugs on campus began rallying on social media for the university to be held accountable for their lack of transparency. As of now, all of these students’ claims have also gone unverified due to their unwillingness to formally speak with The Baron on the subject, despite attempts to reach out to communicate with them.

Amid this aura of unrest, an Instagram account going by the name unbsj_fight_back emerged to champion the voices of these concerned students. Much of the content that appeared on its page served to further sow fear and discontent among the student population. This proved problematic as the situation became increasingly misconstrued. The attention that this account quickly attracted to the bedbug issue with its frequent posting on the subject matter drew the interest of several prominent news organizations.

At this point, and only at this point did the university release a formal statement on March 22nd to the student community directly acknowledging the bedbug issue on campus. This statement was issued over a month after the first outbreak in the HWK Common. 

In response to concerns of other potential outbreaks on campus, the University of New Brunswick’s Communications Office sent out this memo to The Baron specifically:

“We recognize that there have been concerns expressed about our Saint John residences. As a best practice, we have Orkin engaged to monitor residences on a regular basis. In addition, when a bed bug concern is raised, Orkin does a more precise investigation. Orkin has not detected bed bugs in our residences.

There has been daily monitoring of our campus spaces by our pest control contractor, Orkin, and they have not detected any bed bugs on our campus this week.”

Interestingly enough, in none of the correspondences with the student community about the bedbug issue that they sent out did the university ever directly address their initial reluctance to release a statement about the bedbug situation. One could argue that this flagrant disconnect with the university community is exactly what caused the issue in the first place. By hesitating, the university exacerbated the problem since with their complaints going unanswered by the university’s bureaucrats, it was only natural that students would look for potential answers to their concerns among their peers on social media.

Wolfgang Duchtel/The Baron

Addressing The Issue

All of this hints at the three fundamental underlying problems that catalyzed students’ concerns over bedbugs on campus into a fearful frenzy:

1. Genuine bedbug infestations on campus.
2. A lack of transparency on the part of the UNB Saint John.
3. Misinformation spread across social media.

The bedbugs by themselves in the grand scheme of things were not that immense of a concern. Bedbugs are common on university campuses and the university did follow all the appropriate procedures. If they had communicated the reality of these outbreaks to the student population presumably, the issue would have been quickly resolved.

However, with a lack of information being provided to them and the prevailing fear that there was the potential for further infestations, students panicked and began to complain en masse on social media about the bedbugs. This resulted in a number of misinterpretations and exaggerations of the severity of the issue that only worsened the problem.

Conclusion

So, if there is any lesson to be taken from this whole fiasco, UNB – it is this: honesty is the best policy. As cliché as it sounds, it is evident that if the university had been honest with students about the bedbugs on campus, it is likely that none of this would have been blown out of proportion like it seemingly was. Moving forward, that is something to keep in mind.