NIU has a litter problem, but it isn’t solely the responsibility of the NIU Grounds department. Students need to take a greater role in keeping their campus clean.

With the large number of trash receptacles throughout campus, it is not difficult to make sure trash finds its way into one. 

NIU Grounds has a variety of responsibilities, from maintaining the landscaping to facilitating snow and ice removal on campus. These jobs are important, especially in the middle of January when the whole campus is snow-covered and slick. 

Students and staff need to work together to clean up the litter around campus. 

John Heckmann, associate vice president of Facilities Management and Campus Services, described his views on litter, both on campus and in our world. 

“I always get frustrated when I see attitudes and behaviors that feel like people believe that litter is someone else’s problem,” Heckmann said. “‘Someone else will come around and pick it up. Someone else will deal with it. It’s not my problem,’ and that’s frustrating for me.” 

The mindset of placing blame on others negates the fact that everyone can play a role in decreasing the litter on campus and creating more environmentally friendly surroundings.

If all students, faculty and staff on NIU’s campus picked up one piece of litter every day, there would be an opportunity to clean up over 15,000 pieces of litter on a daily basis. 

Thinking about cleaning campus in a collective way changes the mindset from believing ‘this is someone else’s problem’ to ‘we can all do our part to help clean campus.’   

NIU has many environmentally-minded clubs, according to NIU. While it is important to have groups concerned with the issue, if everyone picked up litter as they saw it, there would be no need for large clean-up events.

Students and staff notice the litter on campus. 

Richmond Fredrickson, a first-year fine arts major with an emphasis in acting, explained how she noticed the litter on campus and believes leaving trash on the ground is not the right thing to do. 

While it is NIU’s responsibility to keep campus clean, accountability goes beyond that. 

“If they (students) see something and it’s, like, like, it’s (the litter) clean enough where they’re able to pick it up and throw it away. Like, I feel like they should be doing that,” Freidrickson said. 

Friedrickson noted that the campus should also be clean because of the many geese, squirrels, ducks and other animals that live on campus. 

While the NIU geese are not always welcome bodies on campus, they deserve to be safe and healthy, just like the rest of us. 

Litter is the responsibility of all of us. By creating a new culture of helping each other, NIU can become more clean for ourselves and the DeKalb community.