DURHAM, N.C. — An opossum has illegally taken up residence in the ceiling of a Duke University dorm, where students have been complaining about being bitten by fleas.
The school’s assistant vice president of student affairs, Joe Gonzalez, told reporters on Wednesday that the school has yet to catch the elusive opossum that students first complained about in October. He says the creature has escaped custody partly because it appears to be splitting its time between the Few Quad dorm and somewhere else.
Reports of fleas also began to surface last month, prompting the school to put students up in another dorm while they fumigated the place. Gonzalez says the opossum may have brought the fleas, but that’s unconfirmed. Irritated students are questioning why they’re dealing with such conditions at a $78,608-per-year school.