Couch Burning in Morgantown Reduced as Compared to Past Years

Recent reports from students and faculty in Morgantown suggest that the amount of “Couch Burning” taking place in the city limits has decreased substantially over the past few years. Couch burning has long been a tradition unfortunately linked with Morgantown, WV and West Virginia University, and officials claim that is one of the black spots on the reputation of the state university. The practice entails a large bonfire of furniture usually set after a signature win in football or basketball.
This practice is dangerous and unsightly, giving a bad reputation to our school as a “party school,” but reports from top university officials indicate that this practice has decreased significantly lately, even with the increased success of the WVU football and basketball teams. Some say this decrease in this particular illicit activity has been due to the creation of an organization on campus known as “WVU Students Who Care,” a group who says their goal is to be aware of the way the rest of the country perceives the students at WVU.
“A lot of people didn’t just come to WVU to party; we came here to get a good education that will be respected by the rest of the society” says Alex McPherson, a second year journalism student and vice president of “WVU Students Who Care,” “our organization is founded on the principle that if the students care enough to try and make this a respectable university, it can be a respectable university.”
Alex’s words ring true if the indications from faculty can be trusted; the students have started caring, and part of that empathy extends to a strong desire to prevent vandalism. It is encouraging to note that although the students involved directly in “WVU Students Who Care” are obviously not starting fires in their backyards, their empathy seems to have extended to the point where they have convinced others to stop defiling the streets of our city, and it is this that perhaps gives the most hope to those who wish for WVU to burst onto the national spotlight as a powerhouse-not only on the football field-but in the academic spotlight, and as a place that produces the future leaders of the country.
Whether it is the “WVU Students Who Care” group that is inspiring students to stop vandalizing the campus, or just the fact that the students would rather burn down Rich Rodriguez’s house than dirty broken furniture remains unknown. What is known, however, is that students on WVU’s campus are making a sincere effort to halt illegal activity that has plagued WVU’s reputation for years—and it’s working.