Classes in the School of Philosophy of the National Kapodistrian University of Athens are taught in the midst of garbage and stench, according to a recent report by the Greek daily Kathimerini. “Pictures of shame are not enough to describe conditions in the School of Philosophy,” the article says. “Toilet stench and sticky, filthy floors… cockroaches, plastic bottles and glasses everywhere.” The School of Philosophy is home to 20,000 students, professors and administrative employees. Bureaucratic mishandling beginning in the early summer has left the school without a cleaning staff. Additional legal pitfalls have stalled the hiring of a private cleaning company. The previous rector, who left the School the summer after elections, had failed to act on the issue. According to Kathimerini, professors in some departments have resorted to paying cleaning ladies out of their own pockets in order to be able to teach their classes. In other cases, students voluntarily clean their classrooms in order to learn.