Do EEMCS students really smell that bad? No. A call that went viral to shower more often did not come from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, but from a teacher at the University of Toronto. Smell was a problem there. ‘It gave some students migraines.’
(Image: Kampus via Freepik, Marjolein van der Veldt via Canva)
During a dinner, my TU Delft friends shoved a message (see the box below) under my nose. “Have you seen this Brightspace message that was sent to EEMCS students? They have to shower more thoroughly as it smells at the Faculty.”
We all thought it was very funny. It is always satisfying if a stereotype is confirmed, in this case the mathematics students studying and gaming in airless attic rooms without ever showering. It is probably one of the reasons that the message went viral.
But does it really smell at the Faculty? In the six years that I have walked around TU Delft, why have I never heard about this smell at EEMCS? What do students think about showering being demanded of them? Is the smell really so bad that people are being sent away? I decided to follow my nose.
“Hello everyone,
First and foremost, HYGIENE! There have been some complaints from students and TAs about the smell of the Math Learning Centre and some tutorials. As we have to share our indoor spaces, it is critical that everyone regularly bathes/showers, and where religiously possible, wears deodorants and antiperspirants. It is also not okay to just use fragrances and deodorants to try to mask the odor. While I consider this to be an extreme measure, if this does not improve, offenders may be asked to leave lectures, tutorials, and even test rooms in the future.”
Delft, Eindhoven or Leiden
I start by knocking on the door of the W.I.S.V. Christiaan Huygens study association (for Mathematics and Computer Science students). The printed message is hanging on the meme wall, a present from the Electrical Engineering Society (for Electrical Engineering students). The Board members unsuccessfully tried to find the message on Brightspace, they tell me. Maybe it’s Eindhoven where the message was issued, rumour has. The screenshot is also circulating among Leiden students, accompanied by a text saying ‘this is at mathematics in Leiden’. Would that really be true?
I start looking for the ‘Math Learning Centre’ in the message. The lady at the EEMCS service desk has never heard of it. Neither TU Eindhoven nor the University of Leiden have Math Learning Centres. Other universities, such as in Limerick, Adelaide and Vancouver, do have Math Learning Centres. Did the message float here from abroad?
Then I find it. Doing a search on a couple of the key words in the message, a Reddit page from the Canadian University of Toronto Missisauga (UTM) pops up. On it is stated ‘First and foremost, HYGIENE!’. It is a word for word copy of the forwarded message from TU Delft and is signed ‘MAT102 team’.
Notorious for the smell
In the chat, ‘Brave-Profession6028’ who posted the message on Reddit, says that the smell at the Canadian university is a recurring problem. It is apparently most noticeable after compulsory subjects for computer science and mathematics students. The MAT102 subject is apparently famous for this. UTM’s The Medium students newspaper pokes fun at this in its The comp-sci kid that hasn’t showered since he took MAT102. I get a tip and then find the name of the person who posted the message in a screenshot on another Reddit page – Tyler Holden, Associate Professor at UTM. Bingo!
He is indeed the one who posted it, Holden says in an email. However, he had no idea that the message had gone viral. “I am simultaneously surprised (that something I said has spread), and not surprised (given the nature of the internet).”
He sent the message on 17 September 2024 on Canva (a sort of Brightspace) as he found the smell a problem for the accessibility of education. “We will have students who are unable to access class resources (our Math Learning Centre) because they don’t feel as though they can breathe in those rooms,” says Holden.
Causing migraines
He says that he has had complaints from students who could not concentrate during their exam because of the smell. The smell of body odour can still linger even one hour after everyone has left, he says. This can cause physical complaints. ‘We have had students who are scent-sensitive report getting migraines as a result of having to sit beside someone with poor hygiene for long periods of time.’
Has his request helped? Yes, says the Canadian teacher. ‘I can definitely say that the situation has improved significantly since sending that announcement – not perfect, but much improved.’ He has not had to reject smelly students from exams.
Now that the dirty laundry has been hung out, the source found and the forwarded message debunked, EEMCS can breathe again. And finally, a free tip for UTM from this Architecture student: make sure you have better ventilation. First and foremost, open the windows!
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