Story by Lillian Syren, Culture Columnist
Throughout the entirety of the fall semester, the lower level of the Academic Building has been under attack by the most comically absurd villains: fruit flies. In and out of the classroom, these pests linger and fly senselessly into everything and everyone. Their presence is heavily noted in the classrooms at the very end of the hallway. Why is that? It is because those classrooms are right next to their home: the compost bins. Aquinas’ efforts to make a sustainable campus are admirable, but this aspect of the campus has brought about an entire ecosystem of hosts that presents another problem. Will we have to implement spider patrol to make this truly sustainable?
AB is not the only place that suffers from these pests—Wege cafeteria also struggled more prominently with fruit flies last semester, especially with the tight dining area and the white counters and walls. Even after different cleaning measures were taken, like a deep wipe-down and cleanse of the cereal area, covering the machines with white sheets, and putting out homemade vinegar traps, the flies persisted!! Finally, the cafeteria gave in and whipped out the industrial store bought traps which have done a decent job of keeping the flies at bay. AB cannot say the same.
Day in and day out, the flies buzz aimlessly in the classrooms, tricking students into thinking they are easy targets by flying right in their faces. Random outbursts of frustrated snaps, swats, and claps happen throughout class in an attempt to end the blatant taunting from the flies. No amount of food is safe, no matter how small—the flies will find it and they will walk all over it. Does this come from not changing the compost bin every day? Most likely! But how else can this problem be amended? With rotting food in three locations on the first floor, it’s no wonder that the flies have established their kingdom. Several teachers have asked for classroom swaps to avoid the obnoxious nuisances, but even this is to no avail. They follow any live body and light source to do their rat work.
The solutions are clear: take out the compost bags every day, or place mini industrial fly traps everywhere, both of which are costly (and perhaps not sustainable), but that is the flip side of the coin of composting! Composting on a mass scale makes sense, but does AB garner enough compost to make a difference?
The Saint 