When you refuse to pick up after yourself in the kitchen, it says that you lack respect — not for the building, but for your co-inhabitants, be they fellow students just trying to heat up a lunch, or faculty members who are required to make sure that this building stays functional. But what should the proper response to that disrespect be?

Uni is a mess. There are dirty dishes in the kitchen and unknown, sticky substances on all surfaces. The lounge is trashed, strewn with newspapers, empty pizza boxes, and soda cans. Anna Cangellaris insists that if we don't learn how to pick up after ourselves, our manners — and future social life — may go down the drain.