Campus Services sent out their yearly satisfaction survey to students earlier this month.

The surveys are used to rate the overall satisfaction of campus facilities service as well as to determine and fix problems that may be occurring in campus housing and in campus facilities.

“Through these surveys, we hope to understand what the needs are,” Jesus Mendez, general manager of campus services, said. “We want to know what is important to the community so we can continue to deliver that.”

The survey, which has been sent to students through three campus emails, consists of 30 rating questions regarding facilities overall as well as building maintenance, weekday and weekend custodial staff, and landscaping crews.

As of Monday morning Nov. 20, only 35 students and 80 faculty and staff members had taken advantage of the chance to voice their opinions about campus services.

“I haven’t filled out the survey yet because I haven’t had enough time,” said junior Marcus Yuen. “If they send it out again, I’ll probably fill it out.”

Priorities for campus services change throughout the year with the coming and going of students and conference groups coming during the summer.

Mendez also described the changing expectations of students throughout the years.

“The surveys give us a unique opportunity to see what the expectation is,” Mendez said. “If you look at the generation back in 1990s and the generation now, expectations have changed. When you have the same services being offered and being delivered for many years, it could be a good opportunity for change and adaptation to the new expectations of the students.”

Changing times have lead to changing statistics, as well.

Work-order numbers have stayed mostly consistent over the years. According to statistics obtained from the Campus Services office, 3,187 work orders were received in the 2005-2006 school year, not including the summer months. This accounted for 17,364.11 hours of labor.

Just over 1,400 work orders have been received this school year, accounting for 5,883.5 hours of labor.

Although this may seem like a phenomenal amount, Jan Keeling, office manager of campus services, sees the numbers as an indication of better student interaction with campus services.

“It’s a sign of better communication,” Keeling said. “It gives us a benchmark to see what’s going on.”

Some students have commented on the Internet and phone services on the surveys. A common misconception is that facilities handles these technology issues, but this is not true. Any comments or questions about Internet or phone services should be directed to Information Services.

Although the survey is an important tool, both Mendez and Keeling feel that communication between students and campus services is very important.

“If anyone has any problems at all they should feel free to email or call us anytime,” Keeling said.

Mendez also emphasized communication as key to the functioning of campus services.

“If people have the need to tell us that we are doing a good job or a bad job, the survey is not the only time they can tell us that,” Mendez said.