To: Dr. Vincent Boudreau, President, The City College of New York
From: Israel Osorio, Undergraduate Student, The City College of New York
Date: February 19, 2019
Re: Addressing a Problem on Campus
As you may have heard, The City College of New York has a beautiful campus but it has it’s minor problems. Such as a tree called, ginkgo, located at Shepard’s Hall, specifically on Convent avenue when walking towards 140th street. Let me tell you, this tree brings out a dreadful smell from the fruits this tree grows. These fruits stink only when left on the ground to rot. The rotting fruit emits an odor that smells similar to vomit. Many students on campus go from class to class, and a majority of those students have class in Shepard’s Hall. They often have to go through this smell and this smell has even made it all the way to the entrance and through the rest of the hallway. I say this from experience because I had my writing FIQWS class in Shepard’s Hall. The smell makes its way into the building due to the numerous amount of students who would step on these rotten fruits without knowing what it would cause. This tree makes a strong odor that it makes students not wanting to pass through their anymore.
In other words, I am not saying that this tree should be taken down but instead trying to find a solution in order for this smell not to continue especially if students have their classes in that horrendous hallway with such a strong smell.
Some solutions you can maybe consider are:
- Covering the tree
- Making a blockway where the fruit this tree produces falls to the ground to rot
- Having a time schedule to put Air Freshener to counteract the smell
- Changing the paper floor to new ones
- Cleaning the Floor
- Cleaning/Picking up the fruit that are left in the ground
Other than this tree, I am not aware if there are more trees around the campus. If so, there should be a time, preferably, in the winter/summer when students are not in campus for classes. This would be the best time to do this because students attend much more in the fall and spring for their semesters. The winter and summer is when us, students, would want our summer vacation or just in general not having classes. Also, if you are not aware of this situation, take the time to visit this tree and take your opinion on it, after that inspect the rest of the campus if this happens somewhere else as well. At the end of the day, your The President of City College and you and only you will know how to make the correct changes in the college we attend.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me at
