GUEST COLUMN: Don't leave litter on College Green

Leigh Bauer, Guest Columnist Leigh Bauer, Guest Columnist Many things have happened since I joined the faculty in 1962. Buildings have been built and landscaped walks have replaced traffic-choked streets. Several times a year, members of the community go off campus to do good works. They feel good about themselves. They get favorable attention from the media. They help their neighbors. What about the days when we are on campus, ignoring as best we can the trash on Locust Walk, the cigarette butts at building entrances and the debris littering the classroom? I am angry! I am disappointed! I am embarrassed! If U.S. News and World Report rated our campus on LITTER, I believe we would be No.1. Perhaps we should pass out buttons proclaiming that we are No.1 in being inconsiderate to others. Spoiled! Slovenly! Immature? If each faculty member, with his or her class, pledged that the classroom they entered would be cleaner when they left it than when they arrived, a marked change would result. If litterers see others acting in a considerate and responsible manner, unconsciously their own habits would improve and a marked change would result. I hereby pledge to pick up other people's litter every day that I am on campus and to ask my students to do likewise. Smokers who, on their smoke break day in and day out, drop their butts can't help but recognize how inconsiderate they are. Do they claim that they have a "smoker's right" to stomp on a butt in front of each building? Do they justify such inconsiderate behavior by claiming they are maintaining employment for the janitorial staffs? My challenge is to the litterers. STOP! It is also to the rest of us. SPEAK OUT! Where are our guts? I further challenge the non-litterers to pick up several pieces of other people's litter everyday. I pledge to speak out when I see others litter. I challenge members of our Penn community to ask smokers who are at their last puff to please not drop the butt. If enough of us will take this pledge, we can expect to have a campus we can be proud of, instead of one that is embarrassing to show our guests. We can expect favorable coverage from the national media. We can expect a deepened understanding of the fact that the smallest effort, on a daily basis, can change a community. I invite every member of the Penn community to take these challenges, and I invite the leaders of the fraternities, sororities, ethnic and religious associations and all other campus groups to expand the scope of their leadership by joining in this effort. I am available to help in any way I can. I invite you to call me at 898-3020 with ideas on how to combat the litter crisis. If the campus leaders care, we can transform the campus. If they don't, the rest of us can do the job for them one piece of paper and one verbal reminder at a time.