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Appalachian, show a little respect |
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Thursday, 22 February 2007 |
It was all Aretha Franklin wanted.
Girl Scouts pledge to show it to themselves, others and authority.
The Lord commanded His followers to do it.
 Active Image | Ashley Holland | Editorial Cartoonist
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Yet for some reason, students on Appalachian State University’s campus seem to have a tough time showing respect.
Food Services and Housing Operations personnel are taken for granted and left with unnecessary amounts of mess to clean up.
According to a crime alert released on Feb. 15, there were 21 incidents of graffiti between Jan. 27 and Feb. 13.
That equals more than one a day.
In my dorm, someone even attacked the inside of the elevator with silly string.
Dr. Tommy Wright, director of housing operations, said there have even
been recent incidents with a door kicked in, microwaves vandalized and
windows broken.
“All this takes away [from the housing staff’s] opportunity to go above and beyond,” Wright said.
They spend their time instead cleaning up messes that students are leaving behind.
I don’t see the appeal of defacing the facilities built for our
enjoyment and convenience. Why would anyone want to be the person their
neighbors are complaining about?
I can’t comprehend how joy can come from looking at graffiti or litter or some huge mess, and thinking, “Oh, I did that!”
Are you proud of yourselves?
I’m certainly not.
My Community Guide in the Living Learning Center recently implemented a
new system for keeping the kitchen clean that seems to be working.
He inspects it then puts a card on the door. A green card means the
kitchen looks good, but a yellow card means that we better start
cleaning up after ourselves. If we make it to red, the kitchen is on
lockdown until someone (not our housekeepers) volunteers to clean the
place.
It is the philosophy of Housing Operations to clean up after us no matter what.
Wright asserts it isn’t fair that the kitchen is unavailable to all of
us when only a few are making a mess, but I think it’s absurd to expect
our housekeepers to wash our dishes.
Housekeepers help us minimize the damage on the buildings so they can
last longer. They keep our living environment clean so we can be
healthy.
They are also real people with lives who are not here to play house, wash our dishes and wipe our bottoms.
As legal adults, we should be responsible enough to clean up after ourselves.
Moreover, we should have the restraint not to cause unnecessary messes.
There is no plausible situation involving a respectful student that
ends with an elevator full of silly string.
You wouldn’t cover your parent’s kitchen with flour, and hopefully you stopped drawing on the walls when you were 5.
Let’s show this campus a little respect.
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