Campus is our home, keep it clean

With all the new facilities, dorms, classrooms and more, students should keep in mind that the only way to keep the campus looking nice is through their help. Every time somebody throws on the ground a cigarette butt, a water bottle, or anything else, it makes the campus look bad. Not only does it reflect poorly on our community, but it is detrimental to the environment.

Michael Garcia, director of internal audit, made the statement that the campus is our (students’) home. It doesn’t seem likely that anybody would throw trash on their own front lawn or on their kitchen floor. That is how everyone should view campus: as a home. Even for commuters who do not live in dorms, the message is clear: It is your University that you have to travel to everyday. No one would want to trudge through trash when walking from class to class. There are cleaning crews and organizations that have been formed to help pick up trash after negligent students. It is a sad commentary that such efforts are necessary, but they clearly are.

We are all young adults. Putting garbage in a trash bin seems like a first-grade lesson. Students who do live in the dorms should understand that it costs the University a lot of money to make renovations for our benefit. Just keeping up housing costs a substantial amount of money. To vandalize the inside of your and others’ homes is a serious crime and should not be taken lightly. Maybe some students do not care about dorms because they don’t view them as their own property to worry about, but it is blatantly disrespectful to tarnish any building, no matter who owns it.

In addition, dorm residents are paying to live in the dorms, meaning it is partially their property for the time they live there. Aquinas, especially, looks exceptionally clean and up to date, it is in the best interest of students living on campus now, and for future students to come, that it stays that way. Respect should be given everywhere in order for it to be earned anywhere.