Earlham College | News from Public Affairs

RICHMOND, Ind. — A recent national study of college students co-authored by Alan S. Bigger, director of facilities and chief environmental officer at Earlham College, has determined that there is a correlation between the cleanliness of a school's facilities and the academic achievement of students.

The study was conducted through the Center for Facilities Research at APPA, the association promoting leadership in educational facilities, and co-sponsored by APPA and ISSA, the worldwide cleaning industry association. The project's lead researchers were Bigger and Jeffery L. Campbell, Ph.D., chair of the Facilities Management Program at Brigham Young University. Bigger is also president of APPA.

The study, Cleanliness and Learning in Higher Education, was based on the five levels of cleanliness identified in APPA's Custodial Staffing Guidelines for Educational Facilities.

Of the nearly 1,500 students polled, 88 percent said that the lack of cleanliness becomes a distraction at APPA Cleanliness Levels 3 and 4 (Casual Inattention and Moderate Dinginess) and 84 percent reported that they desired APPA Levels 1 and 2 (Ordinary Tidiness and Orderly Spotlessness) as the standard of cleanliness to create a good learning environment.

APPA's Five Levels of Clean
Level 1 — Orderly Spotlessness
Includes floors and base moldings which shine, vertical and horizontal surfaces with a freshly cleaned or polished appearance, all lighting and fixtures in clean, working order and washroom and shower fixtures which gleam and are odor-free.
Level 2 — Ordinary Tidiness
Includes shiny floors and base moldings and no buildup in corners or along walls, vertical and horizontal surfaces are clean but may contain dust and fingerprints upon close inspection, lights an fixtures work and washroom and shower fixtures gleam and are odor-free.
Level 3 — Casual Inattention
Includes floors swept or vacuumed clean but which may contain stains, dull spots and/or matted carpet in walking lanes as well as streaks and splashed on the base molding, vertical and horizontal surfaces have obvious dust, dirt, marks and fingerprints and all lamps work.
Level 4 — Moderate Dinginess
Includes floors which are vacuumed or swept clean but are dull, dingy and stained with noticeable buildup or dirt in orders and along walls, all surfaces have conspicuous dust, up to five percent of lamps are burned out and trash containers smell sour.
Level 5 — Unkempt Neglect
Includes floors and carpets which are dull, dirty, scuffed and/or matted which conspicuous buildup of old dirt in corners and along walls; gum, strains, dirt, dust balls and trash are obvious while vertical and horizontal surfaces have major accumulations of difficult-to-remove dust, dirt and fingerprints, light fixtures are dirty, many lamps are burned out and trash containers overflow and smell sour.

Eighty percent of the students surveyed also believed that they should be involved in keeping campus buildings clean.

While colleges and universities should encourage students to be proactive about cleanliness of their personal surroundings and their campuses, leaving the overall cleanliness of an institution up to students is not appropriate says Earlham's Alan Bigger.

"In this day and age when services are cut in order to save dollars, this study shows that cutting cleaning services could have a detrimental impact on our primary customers, the students," he says. "Recruitment and retention are the lifeblood of institutions of higher learning. If we do not provide environments our students feel comfortable in, they may go elsewhere."

The survey found that cleanliness ranked as students' fourth most important building element with an impact on learning. Cleanliness ranked behind noise, air temperature and lighting.

Contact:
Mark Blackmon, director of media relations
765/983-1256 — E-Mail Mark