Sophomore computer science major Aryan Mudgal and sophomore management student Chirag Ohri observed in the Spring 2024 semester that the campus was not cleaned during the weekends. There was trash, cigarette butts and other litter accumulating around all parts of campus, left to be cleaned during the week.
The two decided to start Clean Campus in that same semester, an initiative that aims to do cleaning drives during the weekends to “propagate a feeling of cleanliness among the students.”
“It shouldn't matter if the weekend staff are not working, students should still want a sense of cleanliness, and we seek to do that,” Mudgal said.
Mudgal and Ohri completed 10 total cleaning drives and collected around 150 pounds of trash since then. They plan to do more drives as the weather warms.
“It's not about the cleanliness, it's about the idea of having a sense of belongingness so that students can feel a part of it, taking initiative within themselves to keep the campus clean, and not pollute it,” Mudgal said.
Clean Campus consists of the two co-founders and about three volunteers per drive. The organization does not associate with the UB Student Association (SA) or any other UB affiliates. Their core belief is to make sure it's not “just a UB thing,” and give it the ability to expand past Buffalo.
The initiative has already spread to New York University and Boston University, with hopes to expand to more institutions across the country.
Clean Campus is not officially a non-governmental organization, but they are seeking to become eligible by more fundraising.
Mudgal and Ohri recently participated in “Get Seeded,” a monthly pitching competition held by UB-CoLab, in which they raised around $500 in funding, allowing them to buy necessary cleaning products for their drives. They will additionally use these funds to create fundraisers to initiate raffles, involving “Televisions and Nintendo switches” to further increase funding, and “further increase their movement.”
Mudgal plans to use his experience in front-end coding to build a website to increase the advertising of their club.
“Clean campus isn’t limited to cleanliness or sustainability, it was started by the students,” Mudgal said. He and Ohri ran for the SUNY delegate positions to raise issues that students face, which include cleanliness and sustainability, among other issues.
They look to soon pass a resolution allowing students at SUNY schools to make posts about issues which they can react to, with the idea that the post that is the most engaged would be raised to student governments like SA.
The features desk can be reached at features@ubspectrum.com
