The Undergraduate Student Government (USG) Senate narrowly passed legislation on Tuesday that recommends the university administration and Office of Physical Plant (OPP) pay student groups for cleaning up newspapers in campus classrooms.

"I know a lot of student groups are looking for different ways to raise funds when [University Park Allocation Committee] turns them down for whatever reason," West Halls Sen. Scott Sherbine said.

OPP was concerned about the litter and came to USG for help, Pollock/Nittany Sen. Alex Ibrahim said.

He said the extra help from the student groups could lighten OPP's workload.

"This can allow OPP to do other jobs better," Ibrahim said.

Other senators said the recommendation to pay student groups to clean up newspaper trash could do more harm than good.

Hypothetically if student groups clean up the newspapers, there will be less work for OPP employees, Town Sen. Andrew Bond said.

"We could be putting people out of work," he said.

OPP spokesman Paul Ruskin said OPP is always open to new ideas; however, he said he could not comment on behalf of OPP because they have not yet discussed the legislation.

"We are under contract," Ruskin said. "Anything we would do could not infringe on the current contracts."

The OPP Human Resource Department declined to comment on the issue.

East Halls Sen. Matt Ritsko said OPP will still need workers to clean rooms in a regular fashion, and this recommendation could get students involved and provide them with necessary funding.

"We are the Undergraduate Student Government," he said, defending the proposal.

"It is not our job to represent unions; it is our job to represent students," Ritsko added.

Town Sen. Diana Maxham said recruiting students to do maintenance jobs is not feasible.

"There is no way they will let students start cleaning up classrooms," she said. "They won't let students lift a finger."

The attention on newspaper clean-up started last year when OPP asked USG President Galen Foulke to assist them in raising students' awareness on the money and time needed to dispose of trash left in classrooms at the end of each day.

In November, the "We Are" campaign and its director Missi Lau collected a week's worth of trash from campus buildings and constructed an eight-foot long wooden barricade in front of the HUB-Robeson Center to display the amount of newspapers left behind everyday.

Al Matyasovsky, OPP central services manager, said the campaign started a trend to recognize the waste problem.

Coaches vs. Cancer Director Colleen Leddy said her group would be very interested in cleaning up classrooms to fund their upcoming events.

"It's a great idea," Leddy said. "It's definitely something I'll bring up to my committee."

Pollock/Nittany Sen. Eddie Fisher said no matter what the administration's response, the Senate needed to show they are considering different methods to end the newspaper problem.

"We feel this is what our best solution is," he said.

Ruskin said OPP commends students for understanding the litter problem and working to resolve it.