Take a Stand Against Vandalism

After a weekend of Homecoming celebrations, you'd imagine that Plymouth State University students would be full of pride for our school, our campus and our community. With parents, faculty, staff and alumni on campus, we'd think that students would want to keep the campus looking its best. Unfortunately, this wasn't the case for some students both on- and off- campus this past weekend.

Sunday morning, students, faculty, staff, alumni and families strolled across campus to see trash and other evidence of the previous evenings' festivities scattered across our normally beautiful campus. A cigarette receptacle behind the HUB was even torn from the ground and cigarette butts littered the sidewalk. This was the work of a very determined vandal as the receptacle's post was cemented into the ground. The pole itself was slightly bent from the force used to pry it from the ground.

Downtown, flowerboxes in front of a number of Main Street shops, including Off The Hanger and Plymouth Ski and Sport, were pushed aside, flipped over and had flowers pulled out. Someone even spent a dollar on a slice of pizza only to smear it across a shop window.

Yes, these acts of vandalism are harmless in the sense that ‘nobody got hurt,' but they reflect poorly on our community and cost community members money.  These acts, performed by a handful of students, potentially undermine the improved relationships between students and community members this semester.

In terms of student behavior, this fall semester began much smoother than the fall of 2010. As Rachael Ferranti mentions in her article "Towns and Gowns," the number of noise complaints in off-campus areas has decreased by 50% since last year, and relationships between students and the community have been improving. In that article, Frank Cocchiarella, Assistant VP of Student Affairs attributes better behavior off campus to Hurricane Irene and the sensitivity students had towards Plymouth residents.

We realize that students at PSU are going to party and want to have a good time, but at PSU, a campus that emphasizes "community" at every opportunity, can't we have good time without sacrificing the respect we have for ourselves as well as the community we live in? You may be from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Florida or even Alaska, but from September through May you work, learn and live in Plymouth.  

As residents of Plymouth for more than half the year, we should be more aware of how the campus is viewed by our fellow community members…you know, the ones who live here year-round. Take into consideration that many Plymouth residents have families with small children who are in bed trying to sleep while students are out partying. Also, think about the time residents take out of their already busy mornings to pick up the beer cans, bottles, cigarette butts, and other garbage off their front lawns. Think about the shop owner on Main St. who arrived at their business on Sunday morning to find pizza smeared across their shop window. Think of the Admissions Representatives who give tours of our campus to potential students and their parents. Imagine how embarrassing it is for those Admissions Reps to talk about how great PSU is or how courteous and respectful the students at Plymouth are, and then walk past the Mary Lyon green littered with beer cans and trash.

The majority of students here at PSU are respectful of their campus and community by choosing not to litter or damage property. But how many of those students are willing to take a stand against the rest of the student population that chooses to trash our community? When you're walking across campus or along Main Street and see someone littering, do you say something? Do you have the guts to ask him or her to pick up the trash they just discarded? Many of us don't. But if we as students make it socially unacceptable for our peers to litter we can begin to solve this growing problem. The same goes for walking up on vandalism in progress. As soon as we look away or just keep walking, the students start to think that nobody cares and that what they're doing is okay.

Seeing vandalism occurring and doing nothing to stop it is almost as bad as the act of vandalism itself. We need to take a stand for our campus and the community we live in. We urge our fellow students to take a stand for what is true, right and legal. Let's band together as a student body to redefine what is acceptable on our campus. And vandalism and litter is not acceptable.

The Clock Staff