Mice problem affects Midnight Mug

Earlier this fall, Bill Nelson (COL ’11) began noticing some alarming signs in Midnight Mug, one of his favorite spots on Georgetown’s campus. Nelson says he witnessed evidence of mice—torn or gnawed packaging—about half the times he’d been in Midnight Mug this year.

Corp Chief Executive Officer Brad Glasser (COL ’11) has acknowledged that Midnight Mug had problems with mice, although he stressed that the coffee shop does not have an infestation.

Midnight Mug recently experienced some rodent problems.

John-Michael LaGray (COL ‘11),  manager of Midnight MUG, did not respond to a request for comments.

“It doesn’t come as a surprise to any Georgetown student to know that there are issues with rodents around campus,” Glasser said. He added that the presence of mice and the delays in their extermination constitute “a misstep on our part.”

According to Glasser, the Corp is now instructing managers to inspect deliveries and products that are already stocked to make sure they are safe for consumption.

“We would not sell products if we were not confident in their safety,” Glasser said.

Derek Slater, Facilities Coordinator of Lauinger Library, said that he had not heard any complaints from Midnight Mug’s management. He added that any existing rodent problems would be due to the fact that the space was unused for the duration of the summer, and leftover food would naturally have attracted pests.

“I’m not going to say that there are no mice,” Slater said. But he said that calling it an infestation is “an overstatement.”

Julie Green Bataille, Associate Vice President for Communications, echoed Slater’s words.

“There is no mice problem on campus more than normal activity at this time,” Green-Bataille wrote in an email.

In a post on the Corp’s website last Wednesday, Chief Operating Officer Josh Feller (COL ’11) stated that the “rumors” of mice in Midnight Mug are “largely misinformed and exaggerated.”

Slater, Green-Bataille, and Feller all stressed that pest extermination takes place in all on-campus buildings.

“I can personally assure that we are proactively, relentlessly, and aggressively working with the University to ensure that the small issues we’re currently [experiencing] do not escalate into a larger problem,” Feller wrote.

Nelson, though, remains unconvinced.

Nelson said he used to frequent Midnight Mug often, but that the lack of an adequate employee response to the rodent problem has changed his habits.

“The vibe I have gotten from almost every employee I have interacted with is that the mouse problem isn’t a big one if people don’t know about it,” he said.