Every spring, I find dead Cedar Waxwings littered across campus. Past students and professors have been aware of this issue for years. Despite their demands for decals to be installed, the College of Charleston continues to make excuses for not doing so.

Window collisions are a well documented problem for wild bird welfare. Annually, over one billion birds are killed by window collisions. Anti-collision decals have been proven to be incredibly effective at decreasing mortality rates. These decals are made of very small dots that disrupt the window's deceiving reflection of open sky. When installed correctly, they are invisible from the inside. On the outside, standing a small distance from the window will also obscure the dots. Many of the windows on campus with high collision rates are not facing the road or are already obscured by tree branches. Claims that the decals are visually unappealing are simply excuses. The same applies to the College's claim that there is a lack of funding. Faculty members are already in possession of the decals, they just need to be installed. During routine window cleaning is a great time to do it but nonetheless demands for change were ignored. 

Cedar Waxwings are native to North America and migrate through Charleston every fall and spring. They are great at controlling insect populations and aiding seed dispersal. More importantly, they are beautiful animals capable of experiencing complex emotions and pain. Our campus was built on top of habitat that they, along with many other bird species, call home. The least we can do is minimize our negative impacts to their welfare. 

If you care about the welfare of these birds and want to show that our college community is dedicated to making campus a safe environment for students and native species alike, please sign and share this petition, demanding the college immediately installs decals on collision prone windows. If you would like to get more involved, document sightings of dead birds on campus and share these images with other students, faculty, your dean, and your president, Andrew Hsu.