2016 is the year of the monkey—not the wildcat. For Wayne State College, it brings graveyard shifts for some custodians.

Facility services manager Dustin Soden said that vacancies in the custodial staff allowed him the opportunity to pilot a night crew.

“A night crew is the trend for custodial departments in most college settings,” Soden said.

The pilot program will take effect next month and is composed of a three-member crew to work from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. in the Peterson Fine Arts, Studio Arts and Humanities buildings. This crew will be accompanied by a day-shift “rover” to work from 5 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“Based on industry standards, the most ideal time to clean a facility is in the evening when there is less traffic,” vice president of administration and finance Angela Fredrickson said in an e-mail sent to the campus community last Thursday.

WSC currently has 36 custodial staff positions to keep the buildings on campus clean. The custodial staff members already working in these buildings have the option to take up the night-shift position or be given the opportunity to fill a different day-shift vacancy in another building.

“We’ve already had some interested applicants,” Soden said. “Some applicants like those hours, because of daycare, or it works well in scheduling with their spouses.”

According to the e-mail, the pilot will bring less disruption to building occupants, better coverage of buildings during absences and will increase custodial coverage to 23 hours.

The biggest disadvantage will be that the crew will have less contact with the building occupants.

Soden said that some faculty members have addressed concern about the odd hours.

“There has been some discussion among faculty members. Change is hard for human nature. This is a positive addition to the campus, and overall I’m excited about it,” Soden said. “I think it will benefit all the occupants of the campus.”