Dorm Crew


Education Professor’s Tweet Sparks Debate Over Harvard Dorm Crew

A group of academics and students have charged in articles and on Twitter that Dorm Crew — a Harvard College program in which undergraduates clean other students’ bathrooms for pay — is demeaning to the students who participate in it.


Dorm Crew Office

The Dorm Crew office is located in the basement of Weld Hall.


Dorm Crew Adds Transition Advising Amid Calls for Low-Income 'Bridge' Program

Harvard Dorm Crew plans to shorten its work day and include extra advising sessions in its Fall Clean-Up schedule next semester.


The Proud Tradition of Toilet Scrubbing

These maids, alternatively monikered “sweeps,” “biddies,” (a diminutive for the name Bridget that became a colloquial name for a maid) and “goodies,” were considered a staple of the Harvard College experience. In late 1950, university officials anticipated that the maids would soon demand higher wages and proposed the more economical Student Porter Program.


Dorm Crew Increases Employee Wages

Dorm Crew has implemented a more generous pay schedule this fall and offered dinners during its pre-orientation program for the first time, following suggestions from an employee survey and criticisms in the College’s report on diversity and inclusion.


Dorm Crew Discoveries

The Harvard Crimson asked participants in Dorm Crew Spring Clean Up 2015 and 2016 about the strange stuff they find while cleaning out Harvard students' rooms. Megan M. Ross and Sidni M. Frederick/The Harvard Crimson.


Logging Hours

Sarah Lagan ‘19 and Noemi Valdez ‘19 look over a work hour log-in sheet in a Cabot House storage room. The two did Dorm Crew Fall Clean-Up together and continued to work as a team after finding that they were good partners.


Dorm Crew Dairies: Weird Stuff in Rooms

Harvard Dorm Crew is a division of Facilities Maintenance Operations and employs scores of students to perform custodial jobs for on-campus housing. The students running this massive operation are no strangers to surprise. The cleaning teams have tackled everything from giant messes to bizarre left-behind possessions. After the mass exodus of students at the start of summer, dorm crew employees remain at Harvard to clean out the newly vacated rooms. It’s a chance to see the school in a whole new light, and catch glimpses of student lives from Mather to the Quad. It’s also a chance to find some crazy stuff.


Dorm Crew

Grant A. Sprow '16 cleans a toilet in freshman dorm Apley Court as part of routine Dorm Crew duties. Sprow has participated in Dorm Crew since his freshman fall.


Dorm Crew

Grant A. Sprow '16 cleans a mirror in freshman dorm Apley Court as part of routine Dorm Crew duties. Sprow has participated in Dorm Crew since his freshman fall.


Dorm Crew Tests High-Tech Cleaning Fluid

The cleaning fluids, manufactured by EcoLogic Solutions, are largely composed of saltwater that has undergone electrolysis to give it strong detergent and disinfectant properties.


Harvard Exports to Yale

The interuniversity trade routes between Yale and Harvard opened earlier this month by the proclamation of CS50’s export to Yale College, which is in Connecticut. This is no small step. CS50 is the best bioweapon we have engineered. With its t-shirts and free stuff, we are hopeful that it will divide the Yale campus into two groups: those who wear the “I took CS50” T-shirts, and those who do not. But this export should not be the last one by any means. FM considers other authentic items that Harvard has to offer to this time-honored rival for its betterment:


3 PM: Dorm Crew

“When I was a freshman doing Fall Clean-Up, one of the captains told me about someone who had a pet rabbit or something, and then just kept all of its waste in a drawer."


Lowell Student’s Belongings Lost

When Caitlin E. Carey ’12 returned to her Lowell House room last Monday, in the midst of celebrating Senior Week and preparing to graduate this Thursday, she found that most of her possessions had disappeared.


Dear Dorm Crew, It's Me, Matt Damon

You may have noticed that when Dorm Crew workers clean a bathroom, they leave behind a post-it note inviting feedback in the form of questions, complaints, or compliments. Nineteen years ago today, on Feb. 9, 1993, a certain Lowell House blocking group sent a compliment in to Dorm Crew. If you look closely at the seventh name on the letter, you'll see that it was signed by one "Matthew Damon," aka notable celebrity dropout Matt P. Damon (formerly '92). Even before the days of email, students still managed to express their opinions, often in the form of letters, some of which can be found in Dorm Crew's records.


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