Thursday was a bad day to be a litterbug.
Students and faculty members turned out in droves to participate in University Day, devoting many hours to the back-bending work of flower planting and picking up trash.
And the volunteers would not have looked kindly on a litterbug who marred their efforts to beautify campus.
Alison Waterkotte, co-chairwoman of the University Day Committee, said the event was a smashing success, with several hundred volunteers. She added the campus is going to look its best for graduation and Spring Family Weekend thanks to the efforts of all the volunteers. The family weekend starts today and ends Sunday.
“University Day allows students, faculty and staff to make a visible contribution to campus,” Waterkotte said. “Without this annual event, most of this work could never get done. Benefits to the campus include not only beautification before graduation, but also an elevated sense of ownership and camaraderie among students, faculty and staff on the campus.”
Sophomore planning, public policy and management major Fiona Gwozdz was one of the many people who volunteered on University Day. She took two hours out of her day to pick up trash on campus.
“I think it’s important to give back to the community,” Gwozdz said. “Students need to respect the place they come to learn every day.”
She added that University Day this year was really successful and many students recognized the need to keep the campus looking nice.
“The campus isn’t going to be beautiful by itself.” Gwozdz said. “We all love it and we all want it to be beautiful for many years to come.”
According to Waterkotte, University Day is more than just a community service event, it is one of the oldest traditions on campus, dating back to 1904 when University President Prince Lucien Campbell suggested students pitch in to help clean up campus. The event died off, however, in the mid-1920s. In 1990, it was revived by two University students, Waterkotte said.
Tim King, the exterior team supervisor for University Facilities Services, said when University Day was first reinstated, he wasn’t crazy about the idea of students doing the work his team was responsible for, including flower planting, mulching, trash pickup and all other outdoor work. He worried the work wouldn’t be taken seriously and that apathy would result in a low-quality job.
“When it was first organized, we were a little leery about having students come out and do some of our work for us,” King said.
But when he got the opportunity to work with students, King said he realized University Day was a good idea because students’ volunteer work was a big benefit to Facilities Services. Besides the short-term benefit of having a spruced-up campus, King said University Day also creates long-term benefits.
“We have a lot less vandalism on campus since University Day was started because students have a sense of ownership and pride in the campus,” King said. “People are a lot more respectful about the environment they’re in.”
As another part of sponsoring a respectful campus community, the University Day Committee had seven plaques inscribed with the Affirmation of Community Standards installed in the EMU Amphitheater on Thursday. Waterkotte said that they wanted to make the Affirmation of Community Standards more visible to students because “its ideals are truly what University Day is all about.”