Staff editorial: Be classy, not trashy

Walking around this campus, it's hard to miss the hundreds of trash cans and recycling bins dotting the landscape. Regardless of where they're located — along sidewalks, in classrooms or lining dorm hallways — it's rare to see one overflowing. That is, unless you live by The Diner on North Campus.

During Late Night, the cans outside The Diner overflow with takeout containers, rancid leftovers and petrified pizza crusts. The heaps eventually spill over and blanket the sidewalks as students try desperately to make their waste fit. Others simply give up and leave their trash on the tables to save staff the chore of cleaning spilled chili off the sidewalk. Inside, the situation is worse — those trash cans fill up even earlier.

And yet Dining Services and Facilities Management officials don't see this as much of a concern, citing the lack of complaints submitted by students. While this may be true, if officials in those departments want to hear complaints, they need only spend a few minutes outside The Diner during the tail end of Late Night. As they watch students desperately try not to litter while fighting off the stench of heaps of garbage, they should hear sufficient grumbling.

The conditions outside of The Diner during Late Night are disgusting and unacceptable. Although we understand the impossibilities of allowing students to use washable dishes during Late Night because of the costs of hiring a dishwashing staff or having trash collectors come at midnight, investing in a few extra trash cans doesn't seem unfathomable. Simply providing students with more places to throw their garbage away could solve the problem. Or Late Night workers — who are mainly students — could empty the cans instead of letting the heaps of garbage ferment until 6 a.m. the following day, when trash collectors finally come.

Associate Vice President for Facilities Management Frank Brewer said there have been no reports of bugs or rodents near the giant piles of garbage. But that doesn't mean they aren't there. After all, what hungry rodent or pesky bug wouldn't be attracted to several large containers of decomposing food?

To all those at Dining Services who go home when the clock strikes 5 p.m., remember there are thousands of students who call this campus home and live here for many months of the year. They deserve a campus that is clean and sanitary. It's easy to understand why such a simple issue as trash collection may have gotten so out of control when the decision makers aren't here to see the actual mounds of garbage. But that shouldn't be an excuse to subject students to such conditions.

North Campus has a reputation for being the last place people want to live, and the piles of garbage outside The Diner certainly don't help. There may not have been an influx of complaints about the current conditions, but that isn't an excuse to lazily sit by and do nothing.

If officials are on the fence about solving a basic sanitation issue, we ask them to simply spend a few hours among the heaps of putrefied trash by The Diner one night and ask themselves one simple question: Would I want to live here?