Isa Cruz

When Lori Hashasian ’25 and her roommates returned to campus from spring break, they found hundreds of Asian lady beetles on the floors of their common spaces and bedrooms in Coles Tower.

“We got back on Sunday afternoon, and our entire floor was covered with beetles,” Hashasian said. “My roommate counted, but stopped at 200, and said ‘This is disgusting.’ They were all dead.”

Although often mistaken for ladybugs, Asian lady beetles are slightly larger and have a distinctive M-shaped marking on their heads. Asian lady beetles seek entry into buildings when the weather is cold. In the spring, as the weather gets warmer and the sun warms structures like Coles Tower, some beetles will emerge from warm spots in window casings and wall cracks where they have spent the winter, explaining the recent increase in beetle-related complaints.

Residents of Coles Tower and Baxter House have reported particularly high presences of Asian lady beetles in their dorm rooms in the fall and spring, both this year and in years past. Robert Rezvani ’08 lived in Coles Tower his junior and senior years at the College. After 13 years of teaching middle school math, he still remembers the beetle infestations in his Coles dorm rooms, though he did not recall seeing beetles in Hyde Hall or Boody-Johnson House throughout his first and second years.

“The tower was my favorite just because of the location,” Rezvani reflected. “I visited last month, saw Tower and asked, ‘Do you guys still have that ladybug problem?’ It’s pretty funny that it’s still going on 17 years later.… I had forgotten about it for years.”

Though Rezvani reflected fondly upon his time spent in Coles Tower, he recalled exasperation with the beetle infestation.

“There were so many in my room; I would just keep crushing them with a pen on the windowsill. It’s just frustrating because you can never get rid of them,” he said. “I remember looking out the window, and it looked like all the bricks were moving.”

Rezvani and Hashasian noted also that the Asian lady beetles often emit a strange smell when killed. This comes from a yellow fluid secreted from their leg joints as a defense against predators.

“They smell so bad,” Hashasian said. “That’s actually a really big problem because when you crush them to kill them, they stink!”

Lisa Rendall noted that lady beetles have long been an innocuous nuisance to students. Rendall has not been forced to send an email about the beetles since before the pandemic, she wrote in an email to the Orient.

“I rely on Facilities Management … to communicate about ‘bug’ management. Occasionally, I need to send a message about trash that is attracting ants, but that is very room/floor specific,” Rendall wrote.

Last week, Baxter House residents received an email reminding them to clear their trash from the hallways in response to an ongoing ant infestation, resident Henry Stack ’27 said. Baxter residents added that ants are not the only bugs in the building.

“I have been seeing the ants, and there are a lot of lady beetles in Baxter too,” Stack said. “I hear that they are just here for a good time.”

Hashasian and her roommates have not had such a good time with the beetles, however.

“At first, it was really hard to kill them because they look really cute, like ladybugs. But they are also really gross,” she said. “I’ve gotten a lot better at killing them.”

Now, Hashasian and her roommates are working hard to resolve their infestation. After submitting multiple work orders, Facilities & Operations agreed to re-seal their windows.

“We placed a work order, but they emailed us back and said the beetles are actually good for the environment. They recommended we catch and release them. We can’t catch and release 200 dead beetles,” Hashasian said. “Finally, they sent someone to seal our windows.”

The number of beetles has decreased since her windows were sealed, Hashasian reflected.

“We still have them, but definitely less,” she said.