College of Charleston President Andrew T. Hsu on Friday, Oct. 2, 2020, shared the following message with the campus community regarding National Custodian Appreciation Day:
Dear Campus Community,
Today is National Custodian Appreciation Day, and I encourage all of us to take a moment to acknowledge the excellent work that is done behind the scenes to keep our classrooms, workspaces and public facilities clean and safe.
Please join me in thanking your colleagues in the Division of Facilities Management and our partners from ABM. Together, they do a remarkable job of cleaning not only one of the most beautiful campuses in the country, but perhaps one of the most complex and complicated โ with our unique mix of many modern and historic campus structures.
Their work affects every facet of campus. Cleanliness shapes attitudes, consciously and unconsciously.
That means their efforts have a direct impact on prospective students and their families, our students, our faculty, our staff and our visitors. Too many times, we seem to only take note of their work when we think something has been neglected, but we fail to notice their everyday successes โ because their everyday success provides us both the physical and mental space to keep focus on our various tasks at hand.
During this pandemic, while much of our campus community was working remotely, the members of the Division of Facilities Management and ABM dutifully came to work to maintain and clean our buildings. Even empty buildings require constant maintenance and cleaning. And since our return to inperson/hybrid instruction, their efforts have only increased, with the need for deep cleanings and more frequent care and attention in order to keep us all safe and healthy.
Far too often, theirs is a thankless job, but I hope we can change that today and moving forward. If you are on campus today, I encourage you to say thank you (at a proper social distance, of course!). And in the days to come, as we all try to return to some sort of normal, I encourage us all to take note of their constant work in our classrooms, laboratories, academic buildings, residence halls, office spaces, study spaces, dining areas and public facilities and express our gratitude to them on a daily basis because they are critical to our shared mission and our shared success.
Sincerely,
Andrew
Andrew T.ย Hsu,ย Ph.D.
President
College of Charleston
