i think its a bit of both.
i lived at will vill and actually had about an hour of community service i had to do. so my dorm officer (whatever her titled was??) had me take out all the trash that was left in the halls and what not. i found like 6 perfectly good down comforters. i took the best one home for me and washed it and donated the rest. i also found a stereo receiver and a pretty cool lamp.
there are some groups that go through the trash cans and filter out usable school supplies, clothing, housewares and things of that sort. i think if you arent put off by the mystery of whoever used it before you (think thrift stores??) then its a GREAT idea. so many kids at this school have way to much money and just throw lots of great things away. i bet even if you dont find what your looking for you'll find something you like :)

I have a hard time believing that people can just throw away perfectly good stuff, even though I've seen it first hand when I spent a semester in the dorms here. They could just list it for free on craigslist or take it to savers or salvation army or give it to their friends... it's like they've never seen a landfill before. Anyway, it's tempting to see what kind of treasures the freshmen leave behind, but I'm not sure I'd be willing to pick through tons of garbage to get it. Don't they have programs in the dorms now where students just leave their unwanted stuff out front and the dorm sends it to charity or Savers or something?

I don't think it is a gross idea but i usually just take the stuff left out on the sidewalk not in dumpsters