WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) — Most students have left Purdue University for the summer, but some who remain have the unwelcome job of helping clean up dorm room messes left by others.

The task of cleaning out residence halls each summer falls partially to students like Matt Hoppes, a senior in management who works on a cleanup crew. Hoppes said he's scrubbed plenty of trash cans.

"Sometimes it's pretty disgusting," Hoppes said. "If they don't use a trash bag, it's pretty nasty."

University Residences workers also spend the summer cleaning up messes and taking care of other maintenance jobs such as painting and stripping wax floors. John Stock, a maintenance worker at Cary Quadrangle, said some students leave behind rotting food or piles of garbage.

"Some of them, I don't think their mom would be proud," Stock told the Journal & Courier of Lafayette for a story Tuesday.

One of Stock's worst memories of cleaning a room was the result of a prank. He couldn't find the source of a foul odor even after he cleaned the entire room. Stock thought the smell might be coming from inside the walls and called pest control — but then he noticed a tin can over a hidden ledge in a closet. Two cans of tuna with holes poked in the top had sat in the sweltering closet for two weeks.

"It probably took a week to laugh about it," Stock said.

Not all the rooms are dirty. Some students leave only a few papers or dust bunnies behind, while others clean their dorms to near spotless condition before moving out.

"For the most part, students are pretty good," said Tamm Hoggart, assistant director of facilities for University Residences.

Students tend to take better care of the rooms after their residence halls are renovated because they want to keep up the appearance, Hoggart said. Students can be fined if they leave their room in poor condition.

Pat Schoenberger, a senior in math education working on a dorm cleanup crew, said he won't leave his apartment dirty when he moves.

"For our sake, as cleaners, I'd clean the heck out of my apartment," he said.