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As the flu season begins, the NYU Student Health Center posted signs throughout the university buildings to promote good hygiene. But according to a recent study, that effort is in vain.
Researchers at North Carolina State University and Kansas State University found that most students ignore the measures colleges use to encourage good hygiene.
The study, published in the September 2009 issue of the Journal of Environmental Health, examined the 2006 viral outbreak at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada.
Researchers observed that only 17 percent of students entering the cafeteria used the sanitizer gel placed at the entrance, disregarding numerous posters urging them to do so.
Despite the recent study's findings, NYU's Associate Vice President for student health Henry Chung said he believes the posters are effective.
"I think that students do take messages seriously," he said. "But like all people, including health care workers, they need reminders in multiple contexts."
According to Chung, the health center places the posters in locations that are likely to catch students' attention — namely in toilet stalls in what the health center affectionately calls the "Stall Seat Journal."
The health center also sent out e-mails and handed out fliers earlier in the semester urging students to thoroughly wash their hands, keep their living and work spaces clean and to not attend classes if they are ill.
But Tisch freshman Daniel Lee doesn't think the fliers are effective.
"I think most people just toss the fliers out without giving them a second thought," he said.
Lee said he has never noticed the posters around campus.
CAS junior Nick Jensen said he has read the posters, but chooses not to follow all of the suggestions.
"I don't rub my hands together vigorously each time I wash my hands," he said. "I don't always follow the directions to a tee."
Some students said that the health center's hygiene promotion campaign has made them more conscientious of their personal hygiene.
"I sanitize my hands more often now," Tisch freshman Jake Beckhard said. "I don't drink from the rims of other people's cups."
Chung said the key to protecting the NYU population is vaccination.
"Our flu cases have been low, but we remain vigilant," he said.
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