Stink Bugs Are Really Making Me Mad

Reported By: Sam Erickson

Illustrated By: Sydney Simmons

According to KGW8, the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, generally referred to around campus as simply “the stink bugs,” are common in Asia. They were found on the east coast around 20 years ago, and their population in Oregon is booming for several reasons; the main one being climate change. The stink bugs prefer warmer climates, and as Oregon gets warmer, it is easier for the bugs to thrive in the state. 

George Fox University’s (GFU) campus has been no different, with many students finding monstrous nightmare bugs in their rooms, dorm halls, and even bed sheets. If they were a Ninja Turtle, your room is the sewer. 

In extreme cases, students have had to leave their rooms for days or weeks while maintenance clears out the hoards of bugs from their rooms that got in because of broken window screens or other entrances. 

The bugs seemed to have full reign over sections of the Hobson-Macy-Sutton (HMS) dorms in the first semester, with myself and several other first-year students concerned by their presence. I made a joke in the early weeks of school that we are paying an absurd amount of money just to share a room with insects. I didn’t expect that joke to still be relevant five months later. 

There are fewer bugs than in the first semester, or, at least in Sutton. I am tempted to blame this on the fact that the large tree behind HMS fell down. If that is the reason, it was an all-around win, minus the hole in my Area Coordinator’s roof. Even if there are fewer bugs, I feel comfortable saying that most people, when given the choice between some stink bugs and zero stink bugs, would choose zero stink bugs.

While writing this, a Hobson resident exclaimed loudly over the phone to her friend that a bug was in her bed, and she was terrified. My honest reaction? Been there, done that. 

One horrifying day I went to change my bed sheets, and found not one, but five stink bugs crawling their way through my linens. It seems that these bugs might just be part of the HMS experience, which is both saddening and humorous from a writer's perspective. But from a resident's perspective, it’s just sad.

What can we do to prevent them from getting in? The Plant Services FAQ page has an explanation for what to do. There are a few things to be aware of: First, be aware of where they are getting in. Especially in the winter, they are trying to get inside to stay warm, so look around your windows and door frames to see if there are any openings. If there is a crack or opening that isn’t supposed to be there, file a report with maintenance and have them fix it. 

Second: If you smack them to kill them, they stink, but if you grab a paper towel and squish them, they don’t smell. I don’t have a source or fancy reason for this, just first-hand experience. An unfortunately large amount of first-hand experience. 

Hopefully, we as a campus community can get to a point where we are talking about removing them, not just surviving them, given that they are an invasive species. For now, it is as a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle would say: “A cow-a-bummer, man.”