By Madison Thompson —

U of L has been experiencing a hiring freeze for several years now.

As well as administrative positions, other positions such as custodial work have been frozen. This has led to a buildup of garbage. It has left students, faculty and staff working in unclean conditions for sometimes weeks at a time.

The open positions leave current faculty and staff working outside of their job description. Some are even cleaning the classrooms they teach in.

The truth is, current university attendees are starting to take matters into their own hands and we should follow their examples.

We need to step up and do something to help keep our campus clean. We are a community and now that the university has to tighten its belt, we need to pull together and act like one.

The current situation, whether it is a hiring freeze or a hiring frost in the eyes of the administration, is unavoidable.

Pointing the fingers at the administration isn’t going to fill positions.

It goes back to the old adage, “if you want something done right, you’ve got to do it yourself.” In our case, we need to clean, sweep and take on some extra work until our hiring thaw arrives.

The working conditions, even though faculty and staff are stepping up, are unacceptable.

We can hope things get better and, until that time, we need to pitch in and help where we can.