Litter fines take students by surprise

Trash on the campus of Texas A&M University-Commerce seems to be an escalating problem. Students' flagrant disregard for the facilities provided to them is apparent in the gum-speckled concrete and graffiti in elevator shafts.

It appears the administration is cracking down. Residents of Whitley Hall, a mostly freshman-occupied housing complex on the far side of campus, were faced with fines for trash found in and around the building. The charges stood at $10 per piece of trash and the cost was supposed to be distributed evenly among residents.

The process started with the floor meetings held the first week of school. The situation with trash was explained vaguely at the meeting along with the commonplace rules of living in a dorm on campus.

About midway through the semester, students were given flyers, again explaining the possible repercussions of trash issues, but with no signs of a serious problem, most of the residents dismissed the warning.

A few weeks later, billing notices were posted near the lobbies of each individual floor. Mass confusion broke out among the students. No one understood the nondescript amounts of money written in increments on the form, or how much they were expected to pay. Complaints and rumors circulated for more than a week until, one morning, the billing notices were gone.

The billing has been discontinued, with no identifiable cause. However, there was no real problem to begin with. Students were being "fined" for shreds of paper, crumbs of food. I never once, in the expanse of my residency, saw any trace of trash significant enough for a $10 fine, and the threats of building-wide punishment are off base.

So can the administration scare residence into a clean submission? I think not.