Oracle Online

Cleanliness issues in the dorms during this semester have reached intolerable levels of severity. After graduating from high school and putting frog dissections in the past, it seemed as though the days of having to put perfume under my nose in order to take in foul smells were over. Unfortunately, the revival of this last-resort tactic is at times certainly necessary for entering the community facilities in Drew Hall. On one floor, there are at least two broken window panels, sticky soap spilled down the stairway, reoccurring unidentifiable slop in the main hallway, and a men’s bathroom so thoroughly trashed that it prompted warnings about charging students clean-up costs from the residential life staff.

Cleaning staff are certainly not to blame. ABM workers are seen tending to the dorms constantly, whether cleaning the bathrooms at 8 a.m. or getting rid of the garbage after 2 a.m. It appears unfathomable not to appreciate their contributions to the Hamline community, without which the students would be left to dwell in the worst of unsanitary dorm conditions. Cleaning staff have a set of tasks to complete each day, and irresponsible reckless messes caused by a couple of students take extra time to take care of, which means accidents can remain for days.

Assuming that it is the students’ duty to maintain clean living environments for all dorm residents, guilt by association and community punishment are only appropriate and reasonable to an extent. While the people guilty of these acts usually don’t adorn a name tag with the name “culprit” scribbled on it, it does not teach the rest of the students anything to bear the double burden of living in it and being held accountable. Living in a place where it’s a disgraceful and embarrassing experience to bring a guest into the dorms only serves to further aggravate the people who are paying loads of money to live with spills, smells, garbage, and the university’s refusal to approach the ever-irritating issue.

Flinging blame back and forth between Residential Life and upset students tends to foster more tension than solutions, and no unequal responsibility is being required of either group. But as these problems have yet to be addressed, I feel Hamline’s efforts to create a “community feeling” are slipping. It’s infuriating for students to live in, and maddening for staff to deal with. While getting no response from Residential Life but a silence that only seems to imply a mentality of “you made the mess, now live in your own filth,” students need to be engaged in the search for a solution to these issues. If it is students’ responsibility to prevent and deal with these issues, they need to be part of the process where it’s determined exactly what measures to take to resolve these problems in the future.

It is appropriate for students to be held accountable for their communal facilities, but only if their duties are explicit and reasonable. I will not follow peers around when they have been partying to make sure they don’t do something to the halls, nor will I stand outside doors or start a flyer campaign about preventing spills. The only other option is to grab a mop myself.