The school’s new practice of slapping lunch detentions on anyone found eating in the main building is almost as ridiculous as the idea of an “anti-homecoming.”

The added precaution of closing down the third floor during lunch, also enforced by school administrators, is similarly preposterously over-the-top.

Not only will this anti-littering measure simply chase the perpetrators to lower floors, but it does nothing to prevent the litter buildup that happens during brunch or after school.

I see what they are going for, of course. Litter in the school halls is a big issue, a nausea-inducing combination of moldy peels, dried gum, and sticky wrappers. It defaces our school to the point of making it look like a landfill.

But lunch detentions? Definitely a bit on the harsh side.

This is something that is especially frustrating for students who are part of clubs that meet during lunch. They must bring their lunches inside the classrooms in which they meet in the main building, and don’t always have time to finish them before meetings end.

Students who try to sneak a few bites in the hallways on the way to or from the meeting, there’s always a chance that they’ll be penalized by a watchful administrator.

Many students, while illegally snacking indoors, have spotted an approaching administrator and shoved their wads of sustenance down their gullets faster than a competitive hot dog eater.

No doubt the administrators who attempt to enforce this new rule are of the opinion that the punishment fits the crime. The very vagrants who aimlessly wander around the main building, flinging trash like a flower girl flings petals, will be made to spend their precious lunch period picking up after other people’s mess.

But here lies the flaw.

It’s believed the defacing of the school is done with malicious intent. It’s not like Cal students wander around campus trying to make a mess. The trash is just an unfortunate combination of forgetfulness and teenage laziness.

The solution to the littering problem isn’t to come down hard on anyone found eating in the main building, but to try and reduce the amount of trash left behind.

Another solution that has greater merit is to continue sending administrators into the main building.  But instead of handing out lunch detentions, they could keep a watchful eye out for potential litterbugs, distributing warnings and reminders instead of social life sapping lunch detentions.

The idea of banning food in the main building is in itself problematic. While eating outside during lunch and brunch is a viable option for students during the warmer months, the chills and storms brought by winter forces students to seek refuge indoors.

The commons, event center, and gym are too small to hold the entire student body during these times, so what happens to those students who are stuck outside?

Although administrators have good intentions, the idea of banning food inside the main building is impractical and ill-received, and the practice of assigning lunch detentions to perpetrators is overly harsh.

It would be better to either soften the consequences, or find a different way to deal with the problem altogether.