On Saturday, April 26th, the party known as ‘Wedding’ took place at Uppers. It was a lot of fun for most people there, but not for those who had to clean up afterwards. The mess left behind was significant, with broken bottles and trash strewn across the ground. Multiple students and Respect the Nest commented on the state of our campus after the party.
During the party, some students reported watching full beer cans and even wine bottles being thrown in the air, across the courtyard at Uppers, hitting people in the head, and smashing on the ground. This is not only dangerous, but hard to clean up and not good at all for the environment. No one wants to go to a college that looks like a dumpster, or step in beer puddles or on broken glass on their way to their morning classes.
Emily Nathan, a junior, commented, saying “I understand everyone wanted to have a good time, but that does not need to include throwing beer cans or a wine bottle that could hurt others. I saw the tail end of a wine bottle being tossed in the air and immediately was like ‘oh my gosh, why is someone throwing a glass bottle in the air!?’ What if that falls on someone’s head? What if it shatters and someone steps on glass? Please, let’s keep our Anselmian community and environment clean and safe.”
Another student, Rome Spiniello, reflected on the amount of litter and said “As a junior who’s been going to Uppers all these years, I’ve never seen it messier the following morning.”
Most of the clean-up took place on Sunday morning. The festivities left behind a lot of work, which was taken care of by Respect the Nest as well as some seniors who kindly joined the effort.
Respect the Nest described the damage, saying “There was a large mess of cans, bottles, and trash left in Uppers after Wedding. The biggest challenge we face is broken glass. We found many smashed bottles in Uppers on Sunday morning. This is not only difficult to pick up, but also a hazard to residents, walkers, and pets that come to the area.” Broken glass is not just a danger to people, but also to pets and to wild animals who may be attracted by the smell of trash and step on it.
One anonymous student expressed concerns over the clean-up process, adding “As always, Wedding was so much fun and not an event people want to miss. With that being said, my heart went out to Respect the Nest, since it seems like the more people know about them, the more people are just throwing their trash on the grounds since they expect RTN to just pick it up for them.”
Luckily, Respect the Nest was able to clean the space up quickly with some help: “We had a small turnout for this cleanup, but we reached out to the Senior Class to see if anyone would be willing to help. We had tons of seniors come out and help us, which made the work much quicker and easier. We completed the clean-up in about forty five minutes, but it would have taken closer to two hours if we didn’t have the extra hands. We are so thankful to the seniors that took time out of their morning to clean up the space!”
As the spring weather gets nicer, students want to be outside more often and that can, unfortunately, lead to more trash and litter on our campus. Students should be mindful of those who put in all the effort to clean up after them and maybe think about trying to minimize their work instead of adding to it. Respect the Nest says “We want everyone to have fun and celebrate the warm weather, but we also ask everyone to respect campus space at the same time. At the end of the day, these parties occur where many students live, and it falls on these residents and Respect the Nest members to clean up others’ mess. Keeping campus clean is easier if everyone plays their part!” Next time students want to go out and have some fun, they should think about the privilege of living in a clean environment and try their best to keep it that way.