Being from Southern California, it wasn’t until recently — following the unexpected past couple weeks of on-and-off rainfall — that I started to truly appreciate sunny days.
It was on one of these newly-cherished sunny days that I made my way by Marston Quad, expecting to see crowds of students lounging on the grass — eating lunch, doing work and relaxing. After all, the sun was finally out!
I saw just five — maybe six — people.
At my own school, Claremont McKenna College (CMC), I don’t see enough students taking advantage of the vast green space they have access to.
Yes, there are the infamous Green Beach beer die players, who typically set up their tables on Thursday evenings and play games throughout the weekend, and the few students on any given sunny day spending time on Parents Field. But on an everyday basis, most studying and socializing happens on the hard couches and tables of the Hub Cafe.
If it was up to me, all of the 5Cs grass spaces, from Pitzer College’s Mounds to Marston Quad, would be full of students.
Why Claremont students don’t take advantage of outdoor spaces remains a mystery — because, at large public schools in California, outdoor lounging abounds.
At UC Berkeley, the most popular greenspace amongst students is known as the Glade. Anya Shyani, a sophomore at Cal, explained the Glade’s popularity on sunny days.
“Anytime the sun is even out for an hour people will be on the grass,” Shyani said. “It’s always so fun because you can walk past the Glade and see 10 people you know.”
Shyani described the informality of the space, with students setting up tarps and inviting their friends and even acquaintances to lounge on the grass. The casual green space allows students to spontaneously socialize with a wide range of people. Having a shared space like this where students can mingle is essential for creating a fluid social environment.
While student cafes on campus foster community to a certain degree, grass provides an unparalleled openness. In campus cafes, we are confined to tables and chairs in which space is limited. How can you join a conversation with friends if all the seats are taken at the table?
In grassy areas, the entire lawn is fair game.
Students can sit anywhere and engage in a wider range of activities than they can indoors. Spikeball, frisbee, outdoor naps and picnics are all activities that grass uniquely facilitates.
These activities are a large part of what I envisioned when I imagined going to college in California — and I have been disappointed at the reality since.
One way we can promote grass culture at the 5Cs is by having more events and club booths adjacent to and on greenspace. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (SLO) sophomore Madison Mairs emphasized how greenspace use at SLO facilitates an open and engaging social culture on campus.
“Every time you walk by there’s always music, club booths out, thrifting that you can participate in and a lot of people playing spikeball and frisbee,” Mairs said.
The Walker Flea Market at Pomona is a great example of an event that promotes greenspace use, but we can do more.
Furthermore, being close to grass itself has a positive impact on mental and emotional health.
A 2014 study found that people who live in greener areas have significantly better mental health outcomes than those who don’t. With so many lawns at the 5Cs — and so many stressed and anxious students — we could collectively benefit from using these spaces more often.
Let me be clear: It’s not that our grass doesn’t exist. It’s simply underused.
According to a survey conducted this semester by Scripps College’s Sustainability Committee, only 31.4 percent of 121 respondents (composed of mostly Scripps students and some faculty and staff) reported using greenspace on a weekly basis.
Vice Chair of the Sustainability Committee Marin Plut SC ’25, who leads the water subcommittee, pointed out that underused greenspaces are a waste of college resources and harm the environment.
“If there are grass spaces on campus that are not being used [by students], then it is really not worth using water and resources to maintain them as grasspaces,” Plut said. “We could potentially save water and sequester carbon.”
By this logic, unused greenspaces are environmentally harmful — even more reason for students to change their habits and utilize them more frequently. What’s stopping us?
The onus doesn’t fall squarely on students. Our colleges’ administrations can do more to incorporate greenspace use into student life. Hosting social events for first year students on grassy areas on campus can give students a foundation of greenspace use for the rest of their college experience.
A recent controversy amongst CMC students stemmed from the installation of Qwalala, a sculpture built on a CMC Mid-Quad lawn that many students used to enjoy as a lounging space.
“A lot of the friends and connections I made were from spontaneously hanging out and meeting people out on the Quad,” Melanie Kallah CM ’25 said.
Once the structure was built, Kallah described social life in Mid-Quad as far more confined.
“Nobody’s able to interact there or hang out, we are limited to the lounges,” Kallah said.
Jasper Datta CM ’26 thinks that the lack of greenspace use at the 5Cs stems from a cultural disposition.
“I think we’re a culture that believes that socializing happens in dining halls and studying happens in libraries and computer labs,” Datta said.
The next time you need to write an essay, want to toss around a frisbee or have a few extra minutes in your schedule, find your nearest greenspace. Ultimately, greenspace use is up to us — and it’s time to commit to harvesting a grass culture.
Parishi Kanuga CM ’26 is proud to share that she wrote this article sitting on grass.
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