 "Photo: Carl Robinette | Valley Star")
It's detestable. Walking through the campus dodging cigarette butts and potato chip bags as I try my best to elude the menacing squirrels which, at times, seem to follow my every move, is not something I look forward to every morning. The even more troubling part of this scenario is that these issues, which flood the campus, are nothing new.
"Hooray for the non-smoking policy! The only problem is, it is not enforced," a 1998 article from the Valley Star written by Deeanne McClain stated. "Does anyone really know where it's OK to smoke and not OK to smoke?"
The sad conclusion rests on two possibilities: humans will forever be a self-indulgent, selfish race who will throw their cigarette butts and Slurpee cups wherever they please, or the administration doesn't inform and enforce the so-called rules students and the college are to abide by.
"I think the campus could be cleaner if they let people not smoke," Valley student Paloma Gonzalez said. "Because that's all you see on the floor is the cigarette buds (and) Cheeto bags. It's up to the students really, they can enforce as many rules as they want, but it doesn't mean we're gonna pay attention."
Regardless of where the blame lies, students need to be grown ups. Granted many of you are fresh out of high school, a land where mommy fed and dressed you every morning while you watched "Blues Clues." This is a college setting and college is business. If you can't find the nearest trashcan to throw away your lunch, how are you going to manage to hold down a real job? Even when asking, "Would you like fries with that?" at your future place of employment, you will need to be clean.
"The cafeteria was reported in compliance of the previously violated codes, however new problems were found in Tuesday's re-inspection," Linda E. Thomas reported in a 1997 issue of the Valley Star regarding a health agency's visit of the campus cafeteria.
The further problems were, according to Thomas, missing light diffusers and broken areas in the walls. At least we are not missing light diffusers these days, just quality food.
The repetition speaks for itself and is quite honestly, unacceptable. Apparently the methods used by the administration to enforce these rules have not worked in the past 60 years, but maybe they're still testing them out. Clearly the maturity level of the students on campus has not increased, nor their ability to find a trashcan (the round cylinder things on campus).
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