College campuses function like tiny towns. Many students don’t need to leave campus because places to eat, live, work, pick up mail, go to the gym or see a doctor are available on site. Because of this, students spend a lot of time on campus, but some of us have gotten too relaxed. Some of us need to stop treating the space like they own the place.

Places such as the student union are where I’ve seen students leave their trash, take off their shoes, play music and treat the space as they wish. After all, we pay a lot of money to be here, right?

Everyone on campus, not just yourself, pays a lot of money to be here. People are so oblivious that they forget they are public places. As they rush around to make it to classes and meetings on time, leaving behind their trash and messes, they don’t think, “Maybe other people exist too.” They don’t think about the people around them who are also tired and trying to get through their day.

Unfortunately, in the hustle and bustle of campus life, I have noticed so many students have little regard for one another in ways that go beyond picking up your trash.

People shout to each other over aisles in Wolfpack Outfitters and sit on stairs directly in peoples way. I have observed minimal regard for others in spaces because it seems they are only concerned with what is going on in their personal life. They think about how their feet hurt and how sitting down would make them feel better.

There have been too many incidents of people taking their shoes off indoors on campus and jumpscaring me with their nasty, bare feet. Other people are also in that space, and I personally feel no one should be subjected to the look and smell of a man’s foot.

Even the more private places on campus like dorms still have other people there. A dorm is a student’s living space, but they might share that room with another person and share communal spaces like a bathroom or lounge. For example, I have been subject to pure horror in the bathroom connected to my dorm. Articles of dirty clothing left behind, hair in the shower and trash on the floor haunt me.

People deserve to have fun and relax in private spaces, but I deserve to enter my bathroom without shaking in fear of seeing another used tampon on the floor.

Additionally, respecting the people who live around you in your dorm is more than just treating the shared spaces with respect. Adhering to quiet hours and not blasting music late at night allows other people to enjoy being in their private space too. It’s unfair to prioritize yourself over others while someone is in their room unable to sleep because you have friends over who are speaking too loudly. Those communal places within a private space still deserve respect.

While negative behavior may be accidental, students need to pay attention to their actions and how they impact others around them. Every space people enter can impact others, even if it is simply through a shared wall. Caring about your peers is a basic skill and human right I think all students should have. Students deserve to be respected in the same way that they should respect one another.