It is finally spring, so most college students at Marquette University are welcoming the increasing temperatures as they walk to class every day. One would think that students are now able to spend more time outdoors, enjoying spring. Unfortunately in Milwaukee, most days students are hurrying back towards their dorms when it is windy.

Why? The smell. No one is quite sure what the unpleasant smell is, but it resembles a mix between wet dog and cold hotdogs still in their packaging. Any slight wind can spread the smell through campus, sending students straight into the nearest building.

The common consensus on what is causing the smell is the factories that are in and near Milwaukee. The exhaust these factories exude pollute the air and make it smell terrible, leading to the current situation. Although the only hope most students have for now is to wait until the weather stays nice and the wind does not blow as strongly, there are some changes that could be made in the state of Wisconsin.

It would be a wise decision to decrease the number of factories in the area, since the more we have, the more the smell grows. Another option would be to move the factories elsewhere. Perhaps moving the factories out of such an urban area, would help. The smell is consistently getting worse, so by moving or reducing the number of factories near the city, a drastic change could be made. Clean air could impact how the people of Milwaukee, and other cities that share this stinky problem, enjoy the outdoors.

Kathy Wierzchowski is a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences.