Students Need to Stop Disrespecting Campus

Wittenberg students need to step up and begin taking care of the campus. My Wittenberg experience has shown me that some of our students do not care about the campus or university.

Even more inexcusable, on May 8, Casey Gill sent an email to the students of Wittenberg announcing vandalism that had occurred on campus. The monolith, or Wittenberg sign, on the corner of East Campus Drive and Wittenberg Avenue had letters stolen off of it. Wittenberg had so little faith in the campus to not steal more letters, that they just replaced the letters with a large sign over the monolith. On top of this, the cement around the seal was damaged and it looked as though someone had been attempting to steal the seal. To add offense to all of this damage inflicted, the graduation ceremony for the class of 2019 was three short days away.

How terrible is this? Graduation is a celebration of the hard work that students have put in over the past four years. I think almost every single student can say they look forward to stomping the seal. Families come from all over to see our graduation. Someone on our campus attempted to selfishly take a piece of Wittenberg’s campus and could have possibly ruined graduation. These people were thinking only for themselves.

Now, not all of the occurrences I am talking about are as serious as the vandalism this past May. For example, my sophomore year (’17-18), I distinctly remember multiple emails being sent out about a student stealing the flags which adorn our campus. Some students may believe that they, or their family, pays for this university, so they are entitled to take things from campus. However, every single member of campus also pays for campus and what students pay for is the entire Wittenberg experience, not to take trinkets from campus they find valuable.

Every Sunday and Thursday morning you can find trash strewn across lawns of the Witten’Burbs apartments. I understand that WittPD usually comes and tells students to pick up the trash, but college students—who are legal adults I may add—should know to take care of the mess they make. The campus looks the worst on days like St. Patrick’s Day and WittFest. Students spend their days partying and haphazardly throw their red solo cups and Natty Lite cans across our campus.

This is so disappointing to me. When I was a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed junior in high school I came to Wittenberg on a whim. It was just a random school that I had chosen out of the fifty or so that had to been sending me recruiting information.

The moment I stepped on campus it was amazing. I felt at home and I loved the environment right away. The thing that truly sold me was the beauty of the campus. Don’t get me wrong, I met a few English professors, talked with my admissions counselor and did some other important things. However, campus just blew me away.

Being from a small-town in rural Ohio, the hollow called to me, as the other colleges I had visited had no large grassy areas like it. On top of this, the area in front of Myers was picturesque and I knew that I wanted to live in that dorm. Like all of the tours on campus, my tour guide, mother and I stopped by the seal. With the quirky superstition, I saw a lot of tradition and symbolism for this great university.

For this reason, I am especially upset by the disrespect for campus. We as a student body need to do better. Instead of just throwing your trash on the ground, think about finding a trashcan. Before you go to bed after hosting a party, make sure your lawn and sidewalk are clean.

We have a great opportunity to enjoy the campus around us for four years, let’s not ruin it through trashing campus and taking things that don’t belong to us.