Read Dining Hall has cockroach problem, former employees say

Several former employees at Read Center said they believe there is a cockroach problem at Read Dining Hall, claiming IU officials are ignoring a growing problem.\nOne former Read employee, Rhea Kutche, said there were cockroaches in the salad bar, ice cream machine and kitchen. Kutche, who used to be an assistant dining manager at the residence hall, alleges that cockroaches fell out of the ice cream machine when students pulled the dispenser handle, and said she was told to cut the mold off of old cheese so it could be used.\nAnother former Read employee, Melvin Archer, said he used to lead a team of pest control employees, but said his team of full-time employees was replaced by a part-time employee from an outside pest control company. Archer now works for another department in Residential Programs and Services.\nRepresentatives of Read and RPS said they were not aware of a problem, and noted that Read Dining Hall has not failed any county health inspections.\n"We did have a routine inspection at the end of February and passed it," said Read Dining Manager Linda Branstetter. "We have regular treatments from pest control (professionals)."\nDining Services Director Sandra Fowler said she was also unaware of any cockroach problems.\n"I am not aware of any major roach problems at Read," she said. "We have a contract with an exterminator to routinely treat all of our facilities to avoid problems. We have routine inspections from our Environmental Health and Safety Department, and actually, I've never known of any of our facilities to fail an inspection."\nCockroaches were not visible during a lunchtime visit Friday.