They surprise you in the showers, keep your living quarters sanitary and, in some cases, act like surrogate aunts and uncles to students living away from home.
The College employs 38 residential custodians -- 35 in dorms and three in Greek houses. All are members of the Service Employees International Union, headed at the College by President Earl Sweet, Dartmouth Hall custodian.
Taking care of students
"We feel we're here to take care of the students' needs," Sweet said. "We believe they're the customers ... [and] the students should come first."
Other custodians echoed this sentiment.
"I love it over here," said Ernest "Ernie" Brown, a custodian for North and South Fayerweather residence halls. "Working with students keeps me alive, hopping and young."
Brown, originally from White River Junction, Vt., has worked at the College for nine years -- the last two in his current position
Students living in Brown's dorms know that for the past 35 years he has played music professionally.
Brown often tells students about how he played jazz all around the U.S. after his time as an American army medic in Germany between World War II and the Korean War.
Brown's wife was an assistant administrator in the Classics department before she died of breast cancer 14 months ago. Since his wife died, Brown said he has been "in search of music again," but will not go on tour because his two children and five grandchildren live in the area.
Another custodian with familial ties to Dartmouth is New Hampshire residence hall custodian Ken Sensenig, whose father was a student and professor at the College.
Sensenig's office in the basement of New Hamp is warm and inviting, with a small library, microwave, stereo and a comfortable visitor's chair, all of which are student discards, he said.
He keeps a desk drawer filled with change for students to borrow from or to change bills to do laundry.
Sensenig has worked for the College for 15 years, the past seven for the Office of Residential Life. Before becoming the New Hamp janitor, he worked as a cook in Thayer Dining Hall where he met his wife, Joyce Sensenig, the Topliff Hall custodian.
But they did not immediately like each other.
"He's really loud and he would make me mad," Joyce Sensenig said. Despite this they will celebrate their ninth anniversary this month, she said.
Joyce Sensenig has three children, including her son, Morris "Moe" Shattuck, the custodian in Wheeler residence hall.
The Sensenigs have a close relationship with a few of "their" students. In an upcoming visit to New Hampshire, Patrick Lynch '93 is going to stay at the Sensenig house in Enfield Center.
Native Californian and current New Hamp resident David Nicassio '99 went snowmobiling at the Sensenigs' after finals last term.
Nicassio described Ken Sensenig as "really talkative ... It's nice, something you don't really expect" to find in a dorm.
"Students should be treated like humans," Joyce Sensenig said. "I have to write up green slips but I don't like it."
A professional distance
Pauline "Polly" Ellis, janitor of Streeter residence hall, has been working for the College for 11 years this October. She said she enjoys seeing students every day, but tries to maintain a professional distance.
"I talk with them all, but I don't get too friendly with any of them," she said. "I don't try to get to know them too much because then they leave."
Mary Romano '96, current Streeter resident, said she thinks Polly is strict with good reason. "I would hate us," Romano said. "She gets so little respect in terms of how people act."
As for malicious messiness, like tipped-over trash, Ellis said, "I try not to take it personally. I have to clean anyway."
Ellis appreciates it when the College gives her new products to try in her dorm. The College "just switched us over to new detergents to do showers and floors with," Ellis said. "My showers have never been so clean."
A supporter of recent College policy that has cracked down on kegs in dorms, Ellis said she can remember spending many Monday mornings scrubbing Streeter's stairs. Students regularly tried to make beer flow from a tapped keg down the four flights of stairs in Streeter.
Despite these types of events, Ellis believes the students are "all good kids. At least I hope they are -- they're going to rule the world some day."
Empathy
Sensenig's concern for students extends to his view of the administration. He said he does not agree with the College's billing system and sees it as part of a larger problem.
"People [around here] like to charge the students for everything they can," he said. "Dartmouth in the last 10 years has become more of a business. [The administration is] more concerned about money than students."
Another custodian who thinks the dorm damage system should be changed is Brenda Aiken of Woodward residence hall.
A native of Lydenville, Vt., Aiken has worked for the College for 10 years as a janitor and summer supervisor in charge of the dorms during Commencement and Reunion, summer conferences and summer camps.
She likes being around the students, but her least favorite part of the job is cleaning showers.
Aiken said, "students aren't charged enough for vomit or feces, ... [but shouldn't be] charged as much for stupid stuff."
Taking care of janitors
Students occasionally show their janitors their appreciation, like seniors Alex Brunner and Dave Harley in Zimmerman residence hall. On Valentine's Day, they left their janitor, 36-year College employee Barbara Smith, a rose.
"Her job and her position don't get much credit so we thought it'd be nice to show her some appreciation," Harley said.
Smith, the youngest of eight children, has no children of her own, but said she thinks of her students as her extended family. She said she found it especially tough when one of her students, Sarah Devens '96, committed suicide last summer.
"We talked all the time," Smith said. "Today, when I go into that room, I think about her."
Andres residence hall janitor Norma Locke said Smith has taught her a lot in the past three years. "She has taught me not to get upset over situations I have no control over," Locke said.
She described a situation where a group of students had a habit of fighting with oranges, leaving pulp all over the walls for Locke to clean up. After multiple fights, Locke asked the students to clean up the pulp.
"It never happened again," she said.
Last term, students in Hitchcock came together to help the five-year Hitchcock custodian, Gerry Jarvis.
Just before Christmas, Jarvis' daughter's home in Maryland was burglarized. The students of Hitchcock took up a collection so her four-year-old grandson would have presents for Christmas.
Jarvis' relationship with her students, like the Sensenigs', is one of mutual respect. She tells the students, "this is [your] home. You want to keep it neat because everyone wants to live here in an orderly fashion."
Jarvis does not leave the dorm during the work day. At lunch, she plays cribbage with the Gile residence hall custodian and two handymen.
Ryder Sherwin '97, a resident of Hitchcock residence hall, said "If you take care of Gerry, she'll take care of you. She totally protects the students."
Jason Demers '96, who has lived in Hitchcock for three years, described Jerry as "kind of like an aunt."
