The Student Association Senate passed a resolution to press for the cleaning of the fountain between The Union and McCool Hall.
The fountain, donated by the senior classes of 1988-1992, serves as a memorial to people who’ve fought in wars to preserve the United States.
SA Senator Ben Jones said some students throw trash in the fountain and put soap in it, and the university has not kept it clean.
“I think they should treat it with a little bit more respect. I think the reason people do is because they don’t know what it is for,” he said.
The Senate resolution also called for a more prominent display of the purpose of the fountain as a memorial. Jones said there is currently an engraving that is hard to see.
Jones said he believes students will be more considerate of the fountain once they know what it represents.
Director of campus landscape Tim Lacy said the fountain is checked on a regular basis and cleaned periodically.
Lacy said while most students on campus pick up after themselves and even after others, some students continue to litter on campus.
“I would hope that they would treat the entire campus as well as the memorials with respect,” he said.
“If we could get the entire student body focused on that, it would make the campus a better place,” he added.
Junior marketing major Daniel Cook said student litter costs the university money.
“Other than the fact that it’s costing the school a lot of money to clean up behind students that do it, it’s degrading a beautiful campus,” he said.
“You hear people talking about having pride in MSU and all that, then they go and litter. It’s sending two opposite messages coming from the same people,” he said.