Caltech after dark:
Snapshots of the night life

After observing Caltech’s unusually placid, low-key daytime atmosphere, one would be led to conclude that the place is pretty dead once evening sets in. Au contraire.

“That’s when the campus really comes alive,” says Loren Kajitani, assistant security chief, who notes that evenings can keep her staff quite busy. On any given night, the action might include students heading to class, the library, the lab, or the gym; joggers and dogwalkers; and visitors here for the swing lesson, Italian film, and Watson Lecture taking place. And behind it all are employees who keep everything running smoothly and safely.

7:35 p.m., Office of Telecommunications

In the soft darkness of twilight, bright light streams from the windows of 124 Dabney Hall. Inside, Javier Solorzano is working at his computer, keeping an ear open for incoming calls.

Solorzano has been an evening switchboard operator for more than a dozen years. (He also works two nights a week as a computer operator at the Administrative Technology Center.) He started in Telecommunications in 1986 as a daytime temp and became permanent in 1988, later moving to the swing shift.

A typical evening on the 4 p.m. to midnight shift finds Solorzano fielding calls from parents trying to reach students; helping students send faxes; and directing visitors to the Ath or to campus events. In between, he’ll update the database of student telephone accounts, revise various departmental forms, or work on special projects such as tabulating results from a recent ATC student survey. And sometimes, of course, there are earthquake calls.

The evenings following the 1994 Northridge shaker were some of his most eventful, Solorzano recalls. “People were calling for weeks, asking, ‘Are we going to fall in the ocean?’ ‘Can’t your scientists predict when the next earthquake will happen?’” At other times, he says, people call in to report quakes, or even forecast them. “I’ll get someone saying, ‘My dog Sparky has been acting strange. I think there’s going to be an earthquake.’ I tell them, ‘Sorry, we don’t take predictions.’”

8:10 p.m., Braun Athletic Center

Outside, shouts and splashes fill the air as the women’s water polo team battles it out against Chapman College. Inside the glass-walled lobby, Jennifer Worrell is at the front desk, a pile of neatly folded white towels before her.

Here since 6 p.m., she’ll stay until closing time at midnight. The first two hours are always busy, she says, with an inflow of JPL employees coming in after work. Toward the end, things slow down, “but you’d be surprised at how many people there are,” she says, referring to students who tend to hit the weight room or basketball court for late-night workouts.

A student at Pasadena City College, Worrell works 32 hours a week at the athletic center. The evening shift includes one other desk person at adjacent Brown Gym, and a roving staffer who oversees the two. “There’s only a few of us, so we try to help each other out,” she says.

That sense of Caltech’s small community has added to her enjoyment of the job, Worrell says, allowing her to get to know many people. As though in affirmation, a number of arriving guests greet her, including Mark Chavez and Ryan Maynes. “Jennifer is the best employee here,” Chavez says, adding that she “always greets us with a warm smile, and is always willing to go the extra distance.”

Like other employees, Worrell gets free use of the athletic facilities—a perk that has a slight downside. “The gym access is a great benefit,” she says, “but it’s hard to bring yourself here on your day off, since it’s where you work.”

10:43 p.m., Holliston parking structure

In the dim amber glow of the almost deserted garage, the security office is a hub of fluorescent light and activity. Supervisor Brett Miller has just begun his shift, which lasts until 7 a.m. tomorrow morning.

Prior to arriving at Caltech, Miller worked for 17 years as a supervisor for an alarm response company, and so is used to working the night shift. “I enjoy working nights, but days more,” he says, noting he would rather be home with his kids.

Miller starts by setting priorities for the evening’s tasks and delegating them to the other security staff. These tasks might include setting up No Parking signs, escorting staff members to their cars, and unlocking building doors for students and other late-night researchers. In addition, as the only staff member authorized to go off site, he’s responsible for checking up on the off-campus housing complexes. In his four-plus months here, he says, “things have been pretty quiet, which means we’re doing our job.”

The best part of the job, says Miller, has been working with the people. “This is very much a people campus,” he says. “Everyone that I’ve had the privilege to work with has been a lot of fun, and extremely professional.”
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