Overnight, flowers have started blooming, trees have started budding and mulch piles have dotted our campus, the first indications of spring-time at our campus. Workers from Grounds Management have been spreading mulch around our landscaping to spruce up our campus. But there seems to be an area that has been all but ignored—West Campus.

In West Campus, there is a grassy area flanked by Bragaw, Lee and Sullivan Residence Halls called the amphitheater. It appears as if someone has attempted to landscape the areas around the amphitheater, but gave up. Near Sullivan, there has been some attempts to put in plants, but throughout the rest of West Campus there are vast swaths of bare earth. Nature has provided its own ground covering near Sullivan Hall in the form of a multitude of acorns. The squirrels that use the bike racks as a jungle gym seem to love this edible ground cover. As a human, I do not consider them a good ground cover, or very tasty for that matter.

The eyesore that is West Campus only gets worse when it rains. During a downpour, the sidewalks by Bragaw get caked in inch-deep mud. It usually takes the university a few days to get around to cleaning it up. And when the Grounds Management workers do show up, they drive their trucks through the mud leaving ruts and tire tracks on the sidewalks.

The amphitheater has the potential to be a beautiful part of campus. To achieve this, Grounds Management needs to put the same effort into this part of campus as they do on others, by gardening, planting and landscaping. A good place to start would be to spread a little mulch.

It is not all of West Campus that is in bad shape. The University does spend some time, and money, sprucing up certain areas. However, these areas are only the areas that visitors see, namely parts by Bragaw and Fountain dining hall. I firmly believe that N.C. State cannot only be concerned with what visitors see of campus. While it is important to leave visitors with a good impression, the residents and students of N.C. State deserve the same considerations.

Wes Thill is a freshman in mechanical engineering and a resident of West Campus.