LETTER: Students should clean up rooms

Dear Editor,

On the evening of Sept. 26, after classes were done for the day, I found myself in Old Main, Room 225. As I looked around the classroom, I was, to put it bluntly, appalled by what I saw. What did I see? Soda cans and drink bottles, chip and cookie bags (with crumbs spilling from them), broken pens and pencils, drink cups and a take-out box with the remains of an old roast beef sandwich still inside.

Many copies of The Utah Statesman and various other papers (homework, lecture notes, etc.), a McDonald’s bag, candy boxes and miscellaneous trash were all scattered around the floor and on the seats. My personal favorite was a whole banana, left on a seat to rot. The entire classroom looked like one giant garbage dump.

It amazed me that “mature” college students could leave a classroom in such a state. One could hope college students are advanced enough to respect and take care of their learning environment and property which is not theirs. Instead, it is evident this is not the case. Apparently some Aggies do not respect their university, their classrooms or their fellow students enough to make the minimal effort required to keep things clean.

You can throw all the trash you want on the floor in your own home, but this is a classroom shared by all and cannot (and should not) be considered your own personal landfill. Aggies, please take responsibility for your own trash – your mother is not here to pick up after you. True, the janitors will still take care of the messes you so carelessly leave laying around, but at your age, they shouldn’t have to.

Take the minuscule amount of time necessary to put your waste in the trash can. If you don’t have any pride in yourself, at least take a little pride in your school.

Marianne Rich