Break out the perfume and cologne. Cover your faces because guess what, our school stinks. And I mean that in the most literal sense. San Diego State has been taken over by the overwhelming smell of fertilizer. It’s the morning, the weather is beautiful and students are walking to class with one hand tightly squeezing his or her nose to avoid the overbearing smell that has plagued all parts of the campus.
We’ve all been there. Right as you pass Love Library, there’s a sudden stench that everybody silently ignores until he or she has exited the danger zone and can finally breathe easy. It’s gotten to a point where I’m constantly wearing my shirt over my face when I have to walk across campus. Don’t even get me started with the Mediterranean Garden near Hepner Hall. It’s either I’m the only one bothered by this or the school has gone nose blind (let’s hope not).
It’s not that things shouldn’t be planted. By all means, plant flowers and bushes to one’s desires. Heck, go ahead and even plant that tree if you like. But please do so when there isn’t such a high traffic of students that like to sit outside and enjoy the weather. It’s spoiling one of the best perks SDSU has to offer.
The timing of fertilizing new shrubbery could not have been worse. It’s the middle of fall semester, the weather is hotter than ever and the school decides now would be the best time to start sprinkling manure in some of the more populated areas on campus.
Did we not just have three months over summer where the campus was virtually empty? But campus authorities thought, “No, let’s wait for school to start. Students love the smell of manure in the morning.”
Sometimes I smell it even in areas that have no plants in sight. I think they’re just hiding little manure Easter eggs around campus to mess with us.
I’m sure having a non-fertilized area wouldn’t be a deal breaker for students that are currently on campus either. Could this not have waited until even winter break? At least then there would be some weeks where nobody would be present.
Yes, I know everybody is trying to beautify the campus but at what cost? I honestly take longer routes sometimes just so I can avoid the smelly areas. It starts to linger around and sneak up on unsuspecting students. Then students have to justify that the smell isn’t coming from them, it’s the area. But of course, that sometimes isn’t believed.
Stop ruining everybody’s day. It’s exhausting to always arrive on campus knowing full well that at some point you’re going to encounter the disgusting smell. Enough with the fertilizer. Students aren’t rioting because an area doesn’t have any pretty flowers, so calm down with the manure.
I would rather have a nice smelling campus with less greenery than the other way around.
