By Matthew Littlewood of 
Gabriella Farrell, 20, left, an international student from Pennsylvania, helps Keep Ōtepoti Dunedin Beautiful co-ordinator Kelsey Porter at Castle St North yesterday. Photo: ODT / Linda Robertson
The University of Otago has 20,000 students. Just one answered the call to help clean up the mess they have made during O-Week.
Keep Ōtepoti Dunedin Beautiful co-ordinator Kelsey Porter said it was "disappointing" that only one person joined her in the cleanup of the north section of Castle St.
"This person collected 50kg of rubbish and a couple of bags of recyclable glass in the space of an hour, but it was not enough to make much of an impact on that street," Porter said.
"Yeah, it was a little bit of a bummer to not see more students turn out, especially as the state of Castle St and the surrounding flats area at the moment is very untidy.
"I think it's just a matter of developing pride for where you're living. A lot of people want to go do cleanups or something out at the beaches, but really we all need to be cleaning up our own backyards first."
Porter said Salmond College would head towards Bracken's Lookout today, while Arana College would clean along Anzac Ave, heading towards the marina.
She said there were several students who were trying to do the right thing.
"I had a stall over at O-Week inviting people to come to the cleanup, which is how they heard about it, and they agreed that the area needed to be cleaned up.
"So the students were aware of it."
Taskforce Green leader Rik Wilson assisted Porter with the cleanup.
"Frankly, I was pretty disgusted by the student apathy and lack of support."
This story was first published by the Otago Daily Times.
