IU organizations meet Sunday for Campus Cleanup

Before a visit from your mom and dad, you have to finally throw out the empty pizza boxes, straighten up that bookshelf and hide all those beer bottles. But before this Parents Weekend, some students are tackling the outdoor chore of tidying up the campus.

The Civic Leadership Development organization of the Kelley School of Business is holding its annual Campus Cleanup from 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday. This is the first year the event is being held in the fall the week before Parents Weekend in an effort to beautify the IU campus. About 300 students from more than 20 organizations will meet Sunday in Dunn Meadow to split into five or six teams to help clean the campus.

CLD project director and junior Brandon Shore said the event has two specific goals.
“It’s really to make our campus look beautiful before special events, and it’s also to get different organizations together to enjoy the campus and to hear about things the other organizations do,” Shore said.

This is Shore’s third year helping to plan the event, which is usually only held in the spring the week before Little 500. Because the cleanup received such a great response this past spring, the CLD decided to try it out in the fall as well, Shore said.

“This year we are trying something new and going really big – we’ve got over 300 people already,” Shore said. “It’s going to be a gorgeous day on Sunday, especially with the leaves changing.”

The CLD is an organization within the Kelley School of Business that has more than 1,000 members. Shore said it’s a way for business students to be more civically aware and to get into the community to volunteer.

“Campus Cleanup is special because it’s a way to get other organizations involved in the community and with the business students,” Shore said. “It added to the appeal of me wanting to run it.”

Some organizations participating in the Campus Cleanup include the Undergraduate Marketing Club, the Student Alumni Association and students representing different residence halls. Shore said the event is a fun way to get an organization’s name out in the community, and he encouraged those organizations to wear their shirts.

Senior Jaclyn O’Reilly, the community service chair for the Undergraduate Marketing Club, said she participated in the event last year and really liked it.

“I felt as though our club enjoyed it because we were picking up trash before the big weekend, and it felt so good to do something for the campus and make it look beautiful,” O’Reilly said. “I get to choose which events we participate in, so I chose this one for those reasons.”

But students aren’t the only ones helping to beautify the campus this weekend.
The IU-Bloomington Physical Plant helps the CLD by providing – free of charge – trash cans, pickup sticks, plastic trash liners and gloves to the volunteers helping to clean the campus. Thomas Fallwell, coordinator of building services for the physical plant, said they have always been happy to provide these items to the volunteers.

“We are happy to assist in any way to help the campus,” Fallwell said. “The whole sustainability and recycling and picking up the trash really require a volunteer effort, so we help in ways we can without taking over their efforts.”

Following the campus cleanup, there will be a reflection over drinks and pizza, as well as raffle prizes.