Frank James Williamson, Junior Editor
As new and returning students alike settle into their dorm rooms on the Mountain, many will note the absence of individual trash cans in rooms,
Carey Maloney (C ‘29) finds himself increasingly frustrated at the inconvenience. “It’s such a pain, I end up having to walk out into the hall in my boxers, in the middle of the night, just to throw something out.”
The sentiment is not uncommon among the student body, and custodians have also reported being affected by this seemingly minor change.
“Basically, yes, last year every dorm hall had one to two [trash cans] in individual rooms, and as of now there are no more that have them,” said Alicia Cooper, Assistant Dean of Residential Life at Sewanee.
Students mainly disagree with this change on grounds of inconvenience, or the added expense of purchasing their own trash bags. However, Rebecca Sanchez (C ‘28), a former Tuckaway resident now living at Trezevant, also questions where the trashcans went after they were taken from the dorm rooms.
“Sewanee Res Life thinks that we’ll just take any bogus policy they throw at us. My big question is, where did the trashcans go? Us students hold the cards,” said Sanchez.
This question is not only being asked by the students. Custodial staff also are unsure where the trashcans have gone.
“They just came by and took them all out one day,” said Cindy Chambers, who has been a part of the University’s custodial staff for 12 years. Chambers referenced workers of unclear origins removing the trash cans over the summer.
Chambers further explained that her custodial duties have changed minimally with the new policy but that it may complicate the campus’s summer residency programs.
“During the summer, they have things like football camp, they rent out these rooms, and when people leave we’ll go in, clean it. So I don’t know how they’ll do that anymore,” said Chambers.
Another custodian, speaking under the condition of anonymity for fear of facing ramifications given the issue’s controversial nature, said she had been told the change was to cut costs.
“The other custodians—we talk—said they were doing it to save money,” said the employee of the Facilities Management Department.
“What they really don’t want us doing anymore is giving y’all liners [for the trash cans],” added Chambers.
With the start of Advent Semester 2025, all Sewanee department budget managers have been asked to reduce their budgets by 10%.
If a conservative estimate is taken wherein Sewanee’s 476 freshmen, all required to live in dorms, are assumed to live in double-occupancy rooms and use one trash bag per week, this amounts to use of 950 trash bags monthly, by the freshmen alone.
Some students report a capacity to see both sides of the issue.
“On the one hand, I wish we had them, but on the other hand I can see the cans getting really dirty if left in some people’s rooms,” said Luke Thompson (C ‘29), a resident of Tuckaway Hall.
Maddie Vaughn (C ‘28) stated, “I lived in Ayers hall last year, and there was a lot of controversy around the trash cans. We had several hall meetings about people misusing the trash cans, or stealing them, which isn’t a usual thing in most dorms… It was all very unnecessary.”
Further action from the Office of Residential Life remains to be determined. Members of the office stated that Proctors are expressly forbidden to speak on behalf of Residential Life, so proctors could not give a comment.