Brian Barnes, Marcy’s resident director, probably had plenty to be mad about. Some of the study lounges in the building he runs have been damaged by food, vandalism and even furniture theft. Residential Life charged the entire building for the damage and replacement of the pilfered furniture.
That’s fine. The problem arose when he closed the lounges.
From a practical standpoint, it’s worse for students than the vandalism in the first place. The Glenn G. Bartle Library, even with newly announced enhanced hours, has limited hours on weekends, and when the pressure’s on, that extra time working on a paper or studying for a test in a completely work-oriented environment can mean the difference between passing and failing.
But what really bothers us about the whole thing is that we’re paying for it — literally, and in quite a few ways.
The fact that the entire building is charged for the damage is fair. There’s a reasonable chance that someone who lives in the building did it, even if there’s no way to ascertain who exactly was to blame.
We’re upset that students are being charged now. At least for the “stolen” furniture, that is. It’s not like there’s a Corcraft smuggling ring operating out of the Tri-Cities: most of the stuff that’s taken from shared dorm spaces is either returned by the end of the semester. And in the worst-case scenario, resident assistants find the furniture in rooms throughout the building once everyone’s gone.
So why are students being billed now, when the furniture is almost certain to turn up somewhere in the building?
More important, though: Barnes seems to think that use of the study lounges is a privilege. But the fact is Marcy residents pay for the use of the study lounges in their semester housing bill. In fact, tour guides use the study lounges in Mountainview as a tool for recruiting new students, which probably has a good deal to do with the fact that the rooms were closed. But if they can be locked at the whim of the RD as a punitive measure for extended periods of time, are students really getting their money’s worth?
Barnes said he hoped closing the lounges “would be an educational and preventative measure.” Cut the bullshit: it’s punishment. But when did it become the RD’s job to punish students, anyway, by hurting their education? Isn’t ironic, don’t you think?
Of course, the situation shouldn’t even be coming up in the first place. Come on, guys — grow up. It’s amazing how often we have to say this, but don’t steal the furniture, don’t vandalize the study lounge and for the love of crap, if you make a mess, clean it up. It’s common courtesy, for both the other residents of the building and the people who have to clean up the mess.
In any case, the situation has since been resolved: the study lounges have since been reopened. Maybe it was because of finals, but we think it may have something to do with the fact that this paper ran an article on the subject.
College students are always going to do stupid things. But when we do, administrators can’t cut us off from educational resources and say, “This is why you can’t have nice things,” when we’re paying for both the nice things and the damage we cause.