dirty dirty dirty

Thank you for posting on this topic. The computer labs in fact spread germs as everyone has to touch the keypad and mouse. Wipes would be a great idea. But I would also like to see the tables and desktops cleaned on a regular basis.

Thats what you get for using a MAC!

You could always bring your own sanitary wipes if you're so concerned for your health. Or your own computer.

re: that's what you get...

macs use that white and silver look, so yes it is more noticable... but I have this sinking suspicion that this is a problem for the pc labs too. I challenge anyone to grab a paper towell and wipe off your keyboard... I did and the result was disgusting.

re: bring your own computer or your own wipes...

I feel like this is a very shallow minded response to the issue. maybe you are unaware of the financial burdens many of us endure. we all pay fees for the health center and the computer labs, they should put their efforts together and provide sanitary services... our computer labs should not be festering grounds for disease. Of the hundreds of thousands of dollars we pay into the technology fee as students, we have the right to clean labs. it is very little to ask for.

Short of disinfecting each and every keyboard, doorknob, handle, wall, push plate, door, chair, loanable item, toilet seat, toilet stall, telephone, countertop, the air around you and whatever else it is we humans come in contact with, all your efforts really are more of a placebo than anything else.  Faucet handles have more germs on them than toilet seats.  Keyboards with food in them (your keyboard on your own computer) will likely have more bacteria (generally speaking) than keyboards in public locations where eating is prohibited, though their exposure to viruses is greater.

Cleaning the keyboards until they are free of visible dirt merely creates a placebo effect.  It takes it out of your sight which makes it easier to ignore.  It does not, however, make it truly safe in any way as the nooks, crannies, folds, etc. will also contain infectious material.  Nothing short of a thorough disenficting dunk and scrub will really have an effect, or not touching the surface for 48 hours (the outside range of infectious material life span on a surface -- some are longer but those are fairly rare) you are simply making yourself feel better about it while accomplishing little to actually stop an infection.

Now, that is not to say that good habits won't prevent illness.  They do.  But it is generally personal practices (or well followed general guidelines in community areas) are the best defense against any kind of infection (bacterial or viral).  Wash your hands regularly, avoid touching your eyes or mouth when working around 'public' areas, be well rested,  etc.  Hand disinfectants have also shown at least a correlation with illness reduction, though it may just be increased awareness that creates better habits as well.

Homeopathic remedies are snake oil and echinacea seems to be largely the same thing, some studies cite possible benefits while others (most I believe) have shown no benefits.  The jury is still out on whether or not hand sanitizers are effective against viruses, though standard washing certainly is.  They are specifically anti-bacterial (or 'germ') which does not specifically include viruses, though that's not even in the fine print.

So, the long and the short of it is, worrying about 'germs' on visibly dirty keyboards is largely pointless because that's merely the the devil you know.  Your best bet is to wash / disinfect your hands afterward and avoid activities such as keyboard licking, faucet handle to eyeball olympics, and pushing doors open with open sores.  Be more conscious about your own personal habits, if you are indeed worried about this sort of thing.

Yes, Chad. Its true that germs are unavoidable, and there certainly should be more effort from the students to practice good hygene. However, I agree with Pete that as a registered student, we are entitled to clean facilities. EVERYONE should be doing their part in keeping things "clean". Also, I'd like to point out that when facilities are kept at least visibly clean, it reduces the mess students leave behind. If something is already trashed, less people will make an effort to respect the space themselves. So, if the university could make a little effort to keep it more clean, I think more students would do the same. Seems like it wouldn't be too much to ask for more hand sanitizer dispensors and wipes in more places. I don't know how the swine flu case is in Bellingham, but we might as well use it to push our cause, why not propose a germ campaign with more "wash your hands signs" with pigs on them or something. (?)

Is that your medical opinion? Are you qualified to make such statements? Where are you getting your info? Have you been up to the AIC and looked at the keyboards?

Look, the quantity of germs (be they viral or bacterial) matters. The more decaying organic matter on a surface, the more opportunity for germs to thrive and multiply. The best hand washing practices include wiping your hands dry with a towel or paper towel. The AIC does not even offer paper towels, they instead opted for air dryers. They may or may not be more environmentally friendly, but they are not the most effective way to reduce germs. So, the more germs on those keyboards, the greater chance of getting them on your fingers, clothes, and mucous membranes. Also, the greater chance of a few of them surviving a good solid hand washing and thus spreading disease. 

One thing that I found ironic, is that the rugs in the computer rooms were washed and dried extensively- great! That cuts down on allergens and airborne crud, but the tables are covered in muck. So much that the mice are jumpy because there is decayed organic matter caked onto the underside of the mouse. This is a 2 dollar a month fix. Some students don't have the luxury of driving to walmart to buy affordable sanitary wipes, and no one wants to carry around cleaning products so they can clean up other students messes. We have TP and soap in the bathrooms, is that also just a placebo effect? Of course not. So, why would there be any resistance to adding the opportunity to sanitize your community computer work area???

This is an embarrassment to the college. Either the students are not responsible for their community space, or the institution is not giving them the tools that they need to be responsible. I believe it is the latter, considering I have been asking for cleaning supplies since the beginning of summer quarter. This is a no brainer. 

Is that your accounting opinion?  Are you qualified to make such statements?  Where are you getting your info?

That's hardly ironic, you just don't know how the system works.  The custodial staff has a lot easier time cleaning the carpets than they do cleaning keyboards and desks.  The desks are set up to facilitate carpet cleaning, the machines/equipment are already purchased/leased, and the schedules assume it only takes x minutes to clean a room.  If you've got suggestions as to how they can cost-effectively clean hundreds of keyboards and desks (temporarily barring Chad's post of "placebo effect" as incorrect/insignificant) in a timely manner, nevermind in addition to the rest of their current duties, I'm sure facilities management would love to hear it.

Or the responsiblity is tasked to someone besides the users, like the custodial staff.  Or are you proposing the students be responsible for cleaning the floors as well?

I haven't been in the AIC Mac lab in awhile, but why should the most recent outbreak of virus/bacteria/STD x/y/z even be relevant?

Re: swine flu: "Also avoiding touching eyes, nose and mouth with hands prevents flu."  I'd say that probably holds true for more than just swine flu.  But I'm no medical professional.

You will feel like crap.  Then you will feel better.

Is your OP your opinion as a public health professional? Are you qualified to comment on the hygiene of the computer labs? Where are you getting your info? Have you empirically determined the amount of pathogenic microorganisms by making swab cultures of keyboards and mice subjected to scientifically rigorous experimental conditions and compared with normalized averages of microbe populations in differing locations crossreferenced in published scientific literature?

The "decaying organic matter" is just dust and sweat. It's no more decaying or organic than the dust particles that float invisibly in the air. I dare say you are exposed to more airborne pathogens by just walking around than a professional keyboard/mouse crud remover gets exposed to the grevious occupational hazard known as keyboard crud. (Hurry, someone call OSHA!)

2 dollar/month fix? It doesn't take an business major's professional opinion to call bullshit on that. Labor. Material. Opportunity. Each of the 3 costs easily tops $2/month, probably $2/day, possibly $2/day*computer.

As for "other students messes", I hope you're meticulously collecting all your shed hair, sloughed skin, bodily excretions and waste products, GATTACA-style, because hello pot, my name is kettle.

Truly an epic tale of heretofore-unknown tragedy. Perhaps carrying a small, 25-mL bottle of Purell everywhere you go would solve the problem?

mibs said "Is your OP your opinion as a public health professional? Are you qualified to comment on the hygiene of the computer labs? Where are you getting your info? Have you empirically determined the amount of pathogenic microorganisms by making swab cultures of keyboards and mice subjected to scientifically rigorous experimental conditions and compared with normalized averages of microbe populations in differing locations crossreferenced in published scientific literature?"

pete said "Of course I am not a public health professional. I am an undergrad, and no I have not published. thanks. My expertise is far more subtle. You see, I was in the lab looking at the computers and I observed that they were filthy and need to be cleaned. I quickly then observed that there was no cleaning products available. That is about as far as it goes in terms of my specific qualifications. I have taken a couple bio courses, but I hardly think that is worth noting."

mibs said "The "decaying organic matter" is just dust and sweat. It's no more decaying or organic than the dust particles that float invisibly in the air. I dare say you are exposed to more airborne pathogens by just walking around than a professional keyboard/mouse crud remover gets exposed to the grevious occupational hazard known as keyboard crud. (Hurry, someone call OSHA!)"

pete said "I thought you were a bio chem major mibs? What's in that dust and sweat? What grows in dust, sweat, boogers, scabs, fingernails, scratched off pimple heads, and the occasional nanoliter of spittle, excrement, and who knows maybe even reproductive fluids? Do you know anyone doing research in the bio dept? let's take swabs and dish 'em and bring them over to the lab and see what grows. I'm game."

mibs said "2 dollar/month fix? It doesn't take an business major's professional opinion to call bullshit on that. Labor. Material. Opportunity. Each of the 3 costs easily tops $2/month, probably $2/day, possibly $2/day*computer. As for "other students messes", I hope you're meticulously collecting all your shed hair, sloughed skin, bodily excretions and waste products, GATTACA-style, because hello pot, my name is kettle."

pete said "yeah. wal-mart has $2 plastic tubs of sanitary napkins. If a single plastic tub from wal-mart (or equivalent) was placed in the lab once a month it would be a huge improvement. I don't know what you are talking about, pot kettle... I am trying to get some cleaning supplies in the lab so that I can clean my workspace. If everyone had access to some basic sanitary tools, paper towels and some benzalkonium chloride or something more appropriate for a computer, then most of them would clean their space enough to significantly raise the level of sanitation in there. It does not have to be a dentists office, but it shouldn't be filthy either. We as students pay fees, and I bet if you gave students a choice, they would choose to clean their work areas (or at least use a clean computer over a dirty one). No one wants to carry around their own cleaning supplies."

mibs said "Truly an epic tale of heretofore-unknown tragedy. Perhaps carrying a small, 25-mL bottle of Purell everywhere you go would solve the problem?"

pete said "dude. go to the mac lab in the AIC. 25-mL of Purell wouldn't make a dent, you'd need like a liter just to get the tables cleaned, k, maybe 250mL if you also had a half liter of water."

I don't know miborovsky. Are your arguing against sanitation?

And yet you felt to question Chad's expertise, despite being in the same position.  Interesting.

And you questioned Chad's comments why?  Or are you saying dust, sweat, etc only exists in the Mac lab?  Careful with that paint, that's looking like a corner.

So only the Mac lab should be cleaned?  Do you have any idea how many labs are on campus?  Or are you telling me Wal-mart's 2$ tubs are really that large, that they can sustain every lab on campus for a month?

Is that your scientific opinion? Are you qualified to make such statements? Where are you getting your info?

If I had to make a guess, I'd say he was arguing against your idea of sanitation, not sanitation in general.  It's pretty important not to confuse the two.

What he said. :D

Are we talking about ladies or germs here?

...someone is in fact doing something about this, and some kind of hand sanitation products will show up in the computer labs soon.

hoo-rah AS, ATUS, Custodial Staff, and Health Services. We can all pitch in to keep our community work area clean.

I'm kind of sad that Miborovsky and Sense have already replied with almost everything I would have to say about the matter.  They both did an excellent job of pointing out where you went awry.  It's my fault for not replying to you last weekend when I first saw your post.  Still:

It is my opinion, yes, but it isn't medical as in I'm not a medical doctor, but then I'm not diagnosing a patient or performing surgery.  Must I be a medical doctor to give an informed opinion on a subject that isn't specifically medical.

Germs, bacteria, cleanliness and sanitation might be more informatively handled by virology, cellular biology, an EHS expert, a sanitation engineer, or any one of thousands of possible career fields that deal with such things.  Similarly questions about the planets and the stars might be better answered by an astrophysicist or astronomer, or questions about rockets could be handled by a rocket scientist or aerospace engineer.

However, to have an informed opinion on the matter, one only needs to be willing to educate themselves on the concepts, data, and practical applications of these things.

As to your second question, no I haven't gone to the AIC building, but I'm assuming that since it's a MAC lab, the keyboards look bad because they are white (in contrast to the grey/brown/black accumulation on the keyboards).

The irony is, you discount my statements, then you proceed on to say:

Which is no more or less than I said, medically speaking.

The mistake you make, which is the one most people make, is the believe that the 'visible' dirt is a direct indicator of bad germs (bacteria usually, as virii are not generally considered germs since they aren't generally considered alive until they react to a target host cell -- though there is some debate on the issue).  I hate to break this to you but it isn't as simple as that, since you can't see ANY of the germs that might be considered harmful, what you are seeing may be a combination of organic and/or inorganic material which may or may not indicate the presence of harmful material.

You can have a surface that appears clean but is teeming with viri/bacteria from the person who last sat at the station, or you may have a dirty keyboard that hasn't been touched in 2 days that has no remaining surviving 'germs'.  Some 'germs' live a long time and can survive disinfectant as well it all depends on the 'germ'.  Most of the micro-organisms we're referring to, though, have fairly short life spans outside of a host.  They are more likely to survive in the presence of moisture/humidity (which most keyboards don't have) and heat (again, which keyboards don't generally have).  When they take cultures they swap, then try to transfer the contents of the swap to an agar plate and incubate it to rapidly grow a bacterial colony.

I said it before and I'll say it again, unless you plan to dunk they keyboards in a disinfectant solution or take literally minutes cleaning the crevices with alcohol or bleach dipped swabs you are simply making yourself feel better while doing little to solve the actual problem.  Meanwhile there are hundreds of surfaces a day that you come in contact with that won't be getting even that.

So you settle for placation where education is needed.  Modify your own practices and you'll stay healthier than any money for  wipes will accomplish (unless the wipes are for you, personally).

Just to be clear, I'm not saying keyboards aren't dirty, specifically, I just think that the reaction is malappropriate.  Similarly, the solution you suggest does very little to solve the problem.

I did some poking around on this, and I daresay you are more than a little off on your estimate. 

A box of 35 clorox wipes is about $2.  Lets round this to 30 just to make the rough math easier, you'll see what I mean and change the cost to only $1 per container of 30 (over 1/2 off).  There are 26 general university labs, and several other departmental labs as well as other comm spaces such as the library.  At a rough estimate of 30 computers per lab (assuming about 35 labs total) that's over 1000 computers available for general use (and I'm not even including things like print stations, catalog only stations, and utility stations of every kind).

Assuming they wiped down using 1 cloth once a month - that's 1$ per lab per month.  Or about $35.  Sounds OK, right.  Wrong, because this is entirely unrealistic.

Assuming you go to once a week, you immediately quadruple that amount (more actually but let's not get too critical) - $140 for all the labs per month.  Still OK but are they clean enough?

Lets go to once a day.  That's now 30 wipes per lab per day, or one container.  Now each lab costs $30 per month to supply wipes.  At 35 (estimate) labs that's over $1000 per month to buy wipes.  Over $12000 a year now.

Wait, is it possible that the students will, in their germaphobic paranoia, further supported by the provision of wipes to wipe the keyboard if they desire, that they might use more than one per keyboard per day?  Definitely.  Assuming each keyboard gets 3 wipes a day isn't unreasonable.  Now you're well over $3000 a month and $36,000 a year in wipes alone.

We didn't acount for theft, theft prevention devices, labor to fill/change the container, or other related supplies like hand sanitizer that might be provided as well.  That also does not cover staff/faculty workstations, other public areas such as red square or the Viking Union, the student laptops or the dorms, all of which might need the same supplies to assist in the prevention that you suggest.

Seems like just a smidge more than a $2 a month 'fix'.

Because doing so is less effective than having good hygiene practices of your own and it's of questionable effectiveness without significant investment of time/resources.

I think it's more embarrasing for the university to waste money and effort respond to hysterical automysophobia.

it's everywhere man.  It's in the air you breathe, it's on your toothbrush, it's in your food, in your clothes in your hair, on your body, in your body.  It might not be significantly present in the vacuum of space or on the surface of our sun (but I'm only willing to state that as an 'as far as I know').

Ah, the best argument from incredulity you could have made.  Students pay money (fees/tuition) so things should be the way they want them.  Believe it or not, those fees are already allocated for use.  Every fee you are charged must have a reason to exist prior to asking for money.  Take a look here http://www.wwu.edu/upb/FactsandComparisons/tuitionfees/feerateapprovalprocess.pdf

Before you can charge a student ANYTHING, you must first get the fee approved, before they approve it, there must be a legitimate reason for charging the fee.  What you are saying is, essentially, "I already pay fees, just take it out of that.".  It doesn't work that way.

If in the next cycle, a fee was on the ballot to charge each student 10-15$ a year for new and ongoing sanitization materials, would you vote for it?

I think that recommendation was directed at you.  If you are so concerned, bring your own hand sanitzer for your own use.

I don't think he was arguing against sanitization, merely against the overreaction about the problem contrasted with the dismissive way you viewed opposing arguments and your own proposed solution.  It's as if it's a sudden and monumental problem that must be solved by a trivial amount of anonymous dollars, both aspects of which are severely out of scale in opposite directions.

Sadly, it's likely as much about placation as it is about actual sanitation.  So long as you feel better about it, I guess that solves the issue.  I can't help but wonder where the money is coming from to fund it.

Though it doesn't seem that this solution addresses in any way your original complaint of dirty keyboards.

your response is really poorly recieved.

Of course I would not vote for a $10-15 increase in fees for sanitation- that would be an outrageous amount. Your math is sound, but your assumptions are putrid. There is no reason that a small amount of money could not be utilized to improve the sanitation of the labs. Of course individual wipes for every machine twice a day would be unrealistic. Don't be such a fool. There are better alternatives. You are just turning a blind eye to the matter because you have misconceived the point of my arguement.

What really strikes me as foolish, is that you have not seen the state of the lab that I am primarily concerned about. There was so much filth on the underside of the mice that they literally stuck to the surface of the table (no mice pads either). It was so bad that a couple of the machines were virtually defunct. One of the mice I overturned looked as if mold had begun to sprout in the crevices. There are (perhaps were at this point) sticky stains on the tables from people who had eaten lunch in the lab and not cleaned up after themselves. Why would students not clean up after themselves? Because they are not being given the tools they need to do so. How much would it cost to have a few rolls of paper towels and a spray bottle of detergent? How much would it cost to set up a squirt bottle or bottle of wipes of hand sanitizer outside the labs-much like they have at grocery stores and at the Viking commons dining area.

Look, in chemistry labs and in biology labs and probably even in the physics labs students are given paper towels and some kind of detergent to clean up their space. This, at the very least, would satisfy my concerns. Assuming that I would be content with throwing away hundreds of thousands of dollars on unnecessary cleaning products shows that you are either stupid, or merely have a bone to pick with me. I am calling for solutions, I suggested offering wipes. What is your suggestion, that we just never clean the labs... ever?

You are finding reasons that my concerns cannot be addressed instead of finding ways to address my concerns within reason-kind of a crummy way for an employee of the college to respond to a students concerns if you ask me. It is not too much to ask to have clean labs. We pay for them either way- I think if you polled students you would find most of us would prefer to have a clean work area.

I'd rather not have to use the computers on campus, but bringing my own computer is not an option because the software I use is only on school computers. If I wanted to buy the software, I'd have to pay upwards of $2000, which is not a reasonable amount. The only thing I can conceive of doing is bringing my own mouse and keyboard everywhere on campus, unplug their input devices, and plug mine in until I'm done using it. It's not worth the hassle though...

Also, keyboards in labs with "no eating allowed" and the keyboards in those being cleaner than a personal computer is a joke. I see people eating in labs all the time, and who knows how many of them don't bother washing their hands on even a semi regular basis.

It shouldn't be too hard though to have alcohol wipes available for those who want it, even with budget cuts. They're cheap enough...

Is it too much to ask that sources be provided for these arguments either way? I'm glad that someone finally questioned the limitations of the "I pay money, do what I say" argument that seems to come up every time somebody finds something they don't like about the school.

I'm all for having cleaning supplies for when you see a dirty desktop, or a disturbingly glossy work space. That's all reasonable.

As for the mention of the flu, wipes might make you feel safer momentarily, but you'll still come into contact with the flu virus when conversing with an unknowingly-ill friend, when you grab the door handle to exit, when you breathe, when you move, or when you think about breathing while you move towards the door.

So, yeah, bring on the wipes, I guess...

Just don't be one of those people that wakes up with a fever and says, "Damn those filthy labs! It had to be from there!"
 

Thank you Fade. Thank you.

Every student should voice their concerns about the way their money is being spent, otherwise people who profit from our expenditures here will do everything they can to ensure that our money is spent to serve their needs not ours. I was not offerred the opportunity to vote on how my fee money is spent...

Ahh, I now realize that Sense had not explicitly addressed this gem here, so I shall.

Yes, I am a biochem major.

I thought you're a biochem major, Pete. You should know the germ theory of disease. Dead cells don't cause disease; contagious microorganisms do.Touching someone with AIDS won't give you AIDS, you know. Yes, there are dead tissue and bodily fluids, many of which very disgusting, in dust. However, there's dust in air as well as in keyboard crud. You don't get sick by breathing in dead cells and cellular waste floating in the air. By what leap of logical faith do you assume that you will get sick by tactile contact with said material?

And since you're game, do something. Like religion, the null hypothesis has no burden of proof. You'll have to show evidence that there are more pathogenic microorganisms in a short tactile contact with so-called keyboard (and mouse) crud than with a full-day exposure to air. The details are up to you.

What does that even mean?  Are you reacting to the content of my message or something some particular in the way it was delivered?

Putrid, that's pretty strong, and an odd choice, contextually.  It's almost as if you're trying to make them sound worse than they are.  If you mean my assumptions are false, I ask you, to which assumption are you referring?  Identify the assumption, then tell my why it's false, that will do much more for constructive discussion than simply saying my assumptions are 'putrid'.

You wouldn't vote for 10-15$ per student per year, because it's an outrageous amount.  Considering an underestimate of wipes alone for the computer labs was $12,000 a year, or just under $1 per student per year, it isn't unreasonable.

If you provide the wipes you essentially allow them to be used as the user sees fit.  I believe it is entirely possible that 3 wipes per computer per day isn't unreasonable.  In 24 hour labs that's 1 student wiping it down every 8 hours, does that sound like a lot?  In this germ paranoid world, I think it sounds like a distinct possibility.  In which case, you're at almost 40K for wipes alone, which would hardly be considered a complete program for 'sanitation'.  At $10 a student, it would be enough to pay for personnel and supplies to maintain a respectable level of apparant cleanliness. Still I doubt it would be terribly effective except to lessen the complaints on visible issues.

Is the namecalling really necessary?  If my idea is foolish state why and provide reasons.   I'm not sure how it's possible to 'misconceive' your argument when I was merely going by what you posted.  Please take special note of the things you said.  Your underlined words in the original post.  You were directly relating the flu virus to hygiene in the labs, with what was essentially a demand for visibly cleaner computers and wipes provided for student use.

I pointed out the errors of the various aspects of this demand and claim.  I'm not sure exactly where I 'misconceived' anything.  Perhaps you could point it out instead of resorting to namecalling.

And I have no need to.  I have been in the field long enough to have seen my share of disgusting public, personal, and work surfaces.  Your personal reaction is fine, as it's yours, but I'm 100% confident that I've seen worse, and I wouldn't find it nearly as offensive as you.

Another factor in these places you may have missed - they are 'for profit'.  Both Sodexho and any grocery store you find is a for profit institution, they're also done at a smaller scale than it would need to be done here.

A 'store' or for profit system has inherent 'slip' so long as they are profitable.  Grocery stores, for example, have a very low margin but compensate by being both a necessity (often increased sales when times are tight) and a heavy volume (your average customer visits often and purchases substantial quantities of product).  Something like Sodhexo has a much larger margin but a lower sales quantity.  Accordingly, both outlets can afford to absorb costs if they aren't too significant, or adjust prices accordingly to compensate for costs like this.  Coincidentally, both of your examples are primarily food/consumables, so it benefits them to give the appearance of cleanliness, or more to the point, if they are percieved as dirty it might affect their profitability.  None of these aspects are shared by a University, or a lab setting specifically.  In short, they have a bottom line reason to provide the appearance  of cleanliness and more ready means to do so.

Aside from the fact that this is a strawman, and again, unnecessarily resorts to namecalling, I have to point out that I did offer a suggestion, one that is, for all intents and purposes, the only effective way to help prevent illness.  Change your own habits.

I don't disagree with an occasional cleaning if it's warranted, but the fact is, it just isn't generally considered of general value (it doesn't contribute academically, or indirectly via support) and so it's not budgeted.

Exactly how much cleaning is enough for you. Is that enough for someone else?  Is it sufficient to just clean keyboards, or should we also dust the monitors wipe down the screens, vaccuum the chairs, disinfect the faucets, wipe down the push plates, sweep the floor at the same time, run air purifiers, etc.   This list isn't even inclusive, it's merely a fraction of the things we can do to maintain 'sanitary' conditions.  If you'd like I can offer more.  At what point is it sufficient for you, exactly?  And, more importantly, is what your asking for going to be effective at prevention of whatever it is you wish to prevent?

My status as an employee does not change the validity of your concern or the reasonableness of  your suggestion.  Frankly, I think it speaks poorly of you that you are attempting to leverage my status as an employee to support your cause.  It makes your cause appear weak.

If you wanted clowns to be hired to entertain students in Red Square during finals week, my status as an employee would not affect either the practicality or effectivenss of this desire.  It is the same as this.  I state what I believe is true, heavily weighted by my experience, knowledge, and what information I can dig up.  If you believe that my status as a University employee should somehow change that, then perhaps you need to adjust your paradigm.

I am paid by the state to do what it says in my job description.  No more, no less.  I can support whichever political candidate I wish, and I may dress how I like (since there is no dress code) within obvious legal limits.  I may even, shocking as it may seem, disagree with a particular student's assessment of the way things are or the way things ought to be.  If I believe something is posted here that is particularly relevant to my experence or I have an opinion on it then I will post.  If I agree with what you say then I will say so, if I disagree, then I will do the same.

If it is something officially relevant to my job, then I might consider identifying myself and in what capacity that applies to my employee status.  But it hasn't so far, and I suspect that it likely will not.  I am under no obligation to agree with you, or even to make you believe like your concerns are valid.  If I was your academic advisor, or your mother, or your wife/husband, then I might feel obligated to make you feel better about it, but I prefer the path of intellectual honesty and integrity, so I'll say what I believe to be true, whether or not it conflicts with any established opinion.

Pete, your mistake with this particular tactic is making the assumption that I didn't consider the merits of your argument.  Then, inexplicably, attached that belief to my status as an employee with the implication that I did not.  You are wrong in assuming so, and you are wrong in applying my job as leverage to your argument.

Please see earlier posts about 'costs'.  Please present your model for what should be considered 'cheap'.

Second, my discussion of 'no eating allowed' was not in reference (specifcially) to unmonitored and remote locations.  Food particles do get in the lab computers, despite the existing policy, because people don't respect the policy.  These are the same people who are expected to clean up their own mess, or are asked to not steal the supplies for their own dorm/home, or who are politely requested to obey in a situation where there is no way to enforce what is effectively a soft policy.

I have seen some of the nastiest keyboards and mice you can imagine, most of them belong to a particular individual (whether their home computer or a work designated computer).  Labs and public computers have their share of grime, it is inevitable, and it is not necessirly an indicator of the presence of pathogens.

THIS.

Sure, but it helps, Pete, if you take some time to understand how the fees work, why they exist, how they fit into departmental budgets, etc.

I'm not how exactly the various departments could benefit our needs and not yours.  You can do your own investigation if you'd like, but I can tell you no departments on campus are pocketing your fees for a purpose not related to supporting the students.  Are you aware of any?  Do you know of any fee that you pay that isn't already allocated for a student related purpose?  Do you know of any department, college, or administrator that benefits from your fee while you receive no benefit from it?

Your fees go directly to benefit you and as far as I know every single one of them is accounted for and audited, if something goes awry, it will get caught and corrected eventually.  In general, the structures, furniture, network infrastructure, and all the things non-fee paid for things from which you draw benefit  are funded by the state and the public.

The campus has a slew of old furniture that cannot be replaced because there is no budget for it.  Cleaning them is expensive, and many of them have porous fabric that is much more likely to catch and retain pathogens than plastic keyboards or desks.  Where is the panic over these?  Where would the money come from to fix it?

Answer:  Anything approaching a definitive or comprehensive solution is prohibitively espensive, and anything else would either be woefully inadequate and/or merely for the sake of appearances.  If you want to stay healthy, follow the suggestions I stated previously and/or discard the paranoia about germs and dirt.

With a 36% budget cut, I feel like I would rather not have the school spend more money on wet wipes because shared computers are filthy.  Everything shared is filthy.  That's why you cowboy up, use the dirty facilities, then wash your hands. Don't touch your eyes.  Unless you are eating while you type, I see no problem, except for the fact that you may be eating while you type, which is just contributing to the mess.