While Ewha is home to many students, the comfort and convenience that come with it have always been provided by hidden figures behind theschool’s facility services. As their jobs seem to entail taking care of Ewha as a matter of course, it is easy to overlook the effort and value they put forth in their duties.
The hygiene of buildings on campus is largely due to the daily efforts of the cleaning facility. While other buildings require management on a similar level, the cleaning staff at the Ewha Campus Complex (ECC) need to put extra effort in ensuring the spotlessness of the place since it became a representative symbol of Ewha.
The ECC work shift officially starts at 7 a.m. though most arrive much early to prepare and tidy up. After thoroughly mopping hallways and cleansing toilets, the cleaning staff clears the waste bins in every classroom, office and even food waste from the restaurants such as Salady and the ECC Food Hall.
Park Chun-ja, the chief cleaning staff member at ECC, shared that the responsibility she feels about the school is what drives her forward every day though the work is strenuous at times.
“I do not want tourists and visitors to have a bad impression of our campus, so every staff member, including myself, keeps a close eye on regulating the building,” Park replied. “But to do so, others need to cooperate with us as well.”
Park regards the lack of recycling and flushing as serious issues that harm the hygiene of ECC. According to Park, people tend to throw their beverage bottles with the substance remaining inside. As a result, the cleaning ladies frequently rummage around the bins to check for inappropriate waste before correctly recycling the containers. She requested for students to throw the substance away using the food waste bin first and recycle the container after that. In the case of toilets located at the ground level of ECC which many outsiders frequently use, the toilets are occasionally not flushed, creating inconvenience for the next users. To prevent further inconvenience, Park and the cleaning facility designed reminder signs for flushing and placed them in every toilet cubicle.
“Please remember to be considerate of the next user,” Park suggested. “If there is a problem, it is best to call for us right away.”
Furthermore, ECC hosts various events and forums at the Samsung Hall and many of the companies that provide the service leave behind trash, banners, and flower wreaths. On such occasions, the whole cleaning team arrives a few hours earlier to clean the hosting location, manually moving the heavy trash and wreaths to the dumpster located next to the Student Union.
“We hope the school arranges the services of collaborating companies in a stricter manner for a cleaner environment,” one of the ECC cleaning staff replied. “We will always try our best in any situation, but it would be much appreciated if people help along.”
In terms of safety, Ewha students are able to roam around campus freely due to the protection provided by the security facility. Han Seung Hwan, who has been working at the Arts & Design Building A as a security guard since 2017, explained the security manual.
According to Han, the security work shift varies in every building, some places having a 24 hour shift that lasts well into dawn. Usually, there are approximately two or three guards assigned to one building that oversee duty, taking turns every other day. Their primary duty is to secure the safety of students by checking the buildings’ surroundings and watching for trespassing by outsiders throughout the day. In Han’s instance, as the Arts & Design Building holds many exhibitions such as MAYDAY and graduation exhibitions that invite outsiders on a frequent basis, his duty differs from others.
“During exhibition periods when the building is completely open to outsiders, my job is to give directions and sell parking tickets to people, while looking out for suspicious behavior,” Han said. “It is why I need to stay more alert during the open hours of the building.”
Along with the typical security duties, Han also values interaction with Ewha students and strives to appear approachable.
“I try to greet students whenever I see students along the halls and the warm welcome I receive from them makes me happy,” Han said. “It relieves me to know that the relationship between guards and students is all and well.”
In addition, Han expressed his concerns on the lack of security guards on campus. Recently, Ewha introduced the unmanned security system and has been laying off security guards ever since to reduce the costs.
“What they neglect is that CCTVs and automatic ID entrance systems are not sufficient enough for a thorough protection from crimes because they cannot stop crime in advance while guards like us can prevent danger right away,” Han explained. “I am worried it is going to take a toll on the security of campus in the near future.”
The roles of cleaning and security staff to ensure the hygiene and security of campus ultimately contribute to the wellbeing of students and Ewha’s image, something that should not be overlooked but rather appreciated.