What's up? Campus notes

Smokers have taken to the outdoors in greater numbers since January, when all campus buildings became smoke-free. Although the indoor air is sweeter, the outdoors is now being fouled by increasing quantities of cigarette butts accumulating on the ground near building entrances. To help reduce the litter left by smokers, large pea-gravel-filled smoking urns have now been installed outside major buildings on campus for extinguishing and disposing of cigarette butts. If you're a smoker, please use them.

Graffiti blitz

An increasing amount of graffiti is being reported on campus. In recent months, graffiti have been scrawled on numerous University properties and on signs and sidewalks throughout campus. Graffiti have appeared indoors as well as on building exteriors. The Physical Plant Department has recently expended more than 664 work hours removing graffiti. If you spot someone in the act of writing graffiti or committing any other act of vandalism, call University Police immediately (123 from a campus phone, or use a white emergency phone). The mere minutes it takes for vandals to deface property can translate into thousands of dollars in cleanup costs. Chemical mishaps

Fire trucks were on the scene of two chemical mishaps last week. No injuries were reported in either instance. In the first incident, a student working in Searle Chemistry Laboratory inadvertently mixed two compounds in a glass waste bottle. After it was placed in a storage cabinet, the bottle burst, breaking an adjoining bottle of acid. The building was evacuated as a precaution. In the second incident, a University shipping clerk dropped a box of bottles containing methyl alcohol, causing a spill in the basement of Cummings Life Science Center. The alcohol fumes were ventilated through rooftop vents.