IRVINE : University Grounds Tidied by Volunteers

Armed with rakes, brooms and other gardening implements, they trimmed and shaped the grounds surrounding the Humanities Annex at UC Irvine on Wednesday afternoon.

But these gardeners weren’t the usual UCI groundskeepers--they were volunteers from the staff of the humanities department.

Nearly a dozen volunteers worked to tidy up the bushes and vines that were beginning to spill over onto the concrete pathways and even creep up the back stairs of the annex. Spencer Olin, dean of humanities, said the grounds have been looking shabby since the university had to cut back on maintenance workers because of a budget crunch.

“This is a distinguished and proud academic university and we’re used to the best,” Spencer said as he trimmed juniper bushes across from his office, sweat dripping off his chin. “Because of cutbacks, things have not been kept up and we decided, as a temporary measure, that we would get out and improve our working environment.”

The idea to put down their pens and pick up the rakes started with an innocent comment from one of dean’s assistants Monday.

“I just said that because of all the cutbacks, we should all keep our own work areas clean,” said Carol Giangola, one of Olin’s assistants.

Olin thought it was a good idea, then looked out the window and decided they could help do the grounds keeping as well, Giangola said.

As a result, counselors, secretaries, students and even members of staffers’ families showed up to pull weeds and clip foliage. Despite the afternoon heat, the volunteers were jovial as they worked.

“This is funny, really,” said Pat Hunter, a graduate counselor. “It’s not usually one of my tasks, but we all take pride in our workplace and we saw in spring that things were beginning to get a little run down.”

“Run down!” said Carol Pearson, personnel analyst for the department. “The plants were all over the back steps. You practically needed a machete to get up them.”

Pearson even persuaded her teen-age son to come along and wield a weed-whacker along the planters’ edges.

Olin said the cleanup was not in any way a reflection on the maintenance staff, which he said was doing a great job with limited resources.

“This is just us pitching in during hard times to keep our campus looking good,” he said.