Missi Lau does not want to see leftover crossword puzzles and other trash tossed on classroom floors, and she is determined to let people know how she feels.

An eight-foot long wooden cage on display in front of the HUB-Robeson Center today is her effort to show students how much time and money is spent cleaning up the newspapers and other litter left behind in classroom buildings.

Lau, director of the Undergraduate Student Government (USG) "We Are" campaign, said she and about 20 other volunteers worked each night this week to collect discarded newspapers from various academic buildings on campus.

The project is a joint effort between Lau's campaign and Penn State's Office of the Physical Plant (OPP).

She said OPP estimated the university pays $282,995 during the course of an academic year to clean up newspapers and other trash left behind by students.

"Students are just wasting their money by leaving newspapers around," East Halls Sen. Keith Crouse said.

OPP spokesman Paul Ruskin said cleaning crews who have to spend time cleaning newspapers and other trash from classroom floors and hallways have less time to clean other parts of the building.

"It's very difficult to keep up with the cleaning that's needed when at every class change, we have additional litter left in the classes," he said.

USG President Galen Foulke came up with the idea for today's display when OPP approached him last year about the problem of excess trash in classrooms.

Foulke said cleaning up the trash in classrooms last night gave him insight into what janitors deal with on a daily basis.

"We cleaned up the Forum tonight, and that place was a mess," he said. "I picked up orange peels ... and tissues people blew their nose in and threw on the floor."

OPP helped students bag and transport the newspapers this week and worked with students to construct the cage last night.

Lau said the "We Are" campaign is aimed at changing attitudes in the Penn State community. She hoped the newspaper initiative would make students realize the effects of leaving their trash behind.

Lau added that cleaning up in the basement of the Willard Building last night was a prime example of the type of mess left by students.

"Thursday [was] definitely the worst day," she said. "It just looked like somebody went up to the newspaper rack in the lobby and knocked them all off."