Students stumble across an unconscious person while walking to class. Bad smell could be to blame.
By Skylar Mattson
On their daily walk to class the morning of Monday, March 24th, a group of still half-asleep Katies were startled out of their slumber when they encountered an unconscious body lying within a haze of week old trash with hint of chlorine smell on the ramp along the side of St. Catherine University’s Butler Center.
Upon being found, the unconscious individual was brought to Regions Hospital where they regained consciousness hours later. The individual was found to be a local community member on their morning walk when they were hit by a wave of unconsciousness on the St. Kate’s campus. Investigators found the individual to be clear of any possible substances that would contribute to their unconscious state.
When asked for his thoughts on the scene, Head investigator David Williamson explained, “Being the victim was found to be clear of any substance use and has no illnesses that have an impact on one’s state of consciousness, we have to take into consideration the location of the scene. The individual was found in a location that was reported to be rather malodorous by the students who encountered the incident. Of course, we cannot prove a foul smell to be what caused the victim to go unconscious, but we most certainly need to consider it as a possibility.”
Science shows that Williamson’s smelly hypothesis could be a true cause of the victim’s unconsciousness. Evidence shows that odors are capable of triggering an unconscious state. It really just comes down to one’s sensitivity to specific smells. One specific odor is not going to impact everyone in the same way, but an odor is capable of triggering an unconscious state if one has a high enough sensitivity to it.
The unconscious individual unconscious (and definitely not the associate editor of the newspaper).
Is the specific blend of waste-and-chlorine at St. Kate’s as bad as the reputation it has created for itself after this incident? I checked in with some St. Kate’s students to see.
At the mention of a smell on her college campus, Natalia Rigstad ‘26 (Nursing, Psychology minor) seemed to know just the one I was referring to. She said, “That smell makes me regret getting up to go to class daily. One minute, you are enjoying the clean, fresh air on your morning walk and the next, you’re hit with the smell of toxic waste and you’re trying not to gag in front of the people around you even though you know their noses are fighting the same battle.”
Barker Hitchel ‘26 (Political Science) was worried about how the reputation of the university she is proud to go to could change. “It’s like being the smelly kid in school. Nobody wants to be known as the kid who smells. I don’t want St. Kate’s to be known as the school with the smell. I don’t want to attend the smelly school!”
As the smell gains more recognition as the probable cause for the incident on the ramp, president of St. Kate’s, Georgina Rosewood, released the following statement. “Our facilities team is not going to deny that there is an odor around the location of where the incident occurred. The ramp is an unfortunate location between our pool’s chlorine vent and our cafeteria’s dumpster. We are in collaboration with multiple construction and facilities crews to figure out what our next step in this odorous battle is going to be.”
It seems that it is going to take more than some Berry Bramble Febreeze to fight this odor. St. Kate’s will be working fast to combat the smell as a means to hopefully prevent a dip in enrollment numbers before the upcoming fall semester and to give Katies the odor free walk to class they so desire.
