Multiple Paulson Center residents have reported persistent mice sightings in their 11th-floor dorms over the past two weeks, an issue the university said it is still working to resolve.
On Jan. 11, a group of suitemates returned from winter break to their Paulson dorm and found signs of mice in their suite, including holes in sealed food and pellets in drawers. After submitting a work request at the resource center that morning, the students identified holes near their windowsills as potential entry points for mice, and stuffed them with steel wool provided by a floormate who said they had been experiencing the same issue since Jan. 2.
“NYU Residential Life, Facilities, CBS Housekeeping and our licensed exterminators have been conducting repeated visits, placing traps and bait stations, sealing window and wall entry points, and taking other measures as needed,” university spokesperson Carol Ourivio wrote in a statement to WSN. “The number of reports of mice sightings has already decreased significantly, and we will continue this work until the situation is fully resolved.”
A Paulson resident who posted about the issue on Reddit and contacted WSN on condition of anonymity said that exterminators relied on students to identify entry gaps. They also set up a trap in the common room and reinforced the windowsill gaps with steel wool, and students were informed they would receive follow-up communication.
The next day, residence hall director Alma Buljina said the building’s lead engineer confirmed that all windows and other potential gaps were properly sealed, according to emails obtained by WSN. However, the student said the inspection consisted of them “briefly shining a flashlight around” in the common room and did not involve sealing the gaps or checking the other room in the suite.
Three dead mice were found in the common room trap on Jan. 19, which building staff retrieved after students submitted another work request. Staff came to replace the traps on the evening of Jan. 20, and that night, the student found a live mouse under her bed that had not been inspected. Exterminators arrived at 5 p.m. the next day to seal gaps in windowsills that were previously never addressed and later that week, a fourth dead mouse was found in the suite.
“I believe that facilities and pest control are being treated as unfairly as we are,” the student wrote to WSN. “It’s frustrating that building management, whose entire job description is to manage the building and its staff, fails to properly communicate on any front with students or staff.”
The student claimed that Paulson staff said building management instructed them not to talk about the issue to prevent widespread panic. When students raised concerns to Buljina about issues caused by the mice, including allergies and sleep deprivation, they were told that NYU is taking the issue seriously but not offered any alternative solutions.
On Jan. 22, Buljina contacted the student saying pest control would install ultrasonic pest repellers and conduct targeted wall treatment. While the pest repellers have yet to be installed, the wall treatment was conducted behind her bed two days later.
The student said on Reddit that “dozens” of residents were dealing with mice, although WSN was unable to reach anyone else directly affected. Another student, CAS junior Yetta Krummel-Adkins, told WSN that in December she saw a mouse on the building’s second floor.
Paulson cost the university $1.2 billion and opened in 2023. Last January, a burst pipe flooded the athletics facility, forcing the university to relocate Club Fest to the Kimmel Center for University Life.
“The RAs have been doing the most that they can — my RA has been doing a really good job,” Stern first-year and Paulson resident Victoria Xu told WSN. “Paulson definitely needs to put out an email or something so it can actually be taken seriously.”
Contact Eva Mundo at [email protected].