By Nam Tran Hoang
Letter to the Editor
“All trash rooms will be LOCKED May 5,” said a recent email from a resident assistant.
The news was received with quite a grudging feeling. Life at Ohio Wesleyan has increasingly become harder. To paint a picture: imagine a place where fire alarm is set off at midnight, at 4 a.m. and at noon; a place where food stored in community fridges and clothes in laundry rooms are stolen; a place where being loud, getting drunk, smoking, selling weed and other activities can be observed.
Then there comes this rule — trash rooms will be locked on the Monday of finals week.
Up to now, the benefits, if any, of living on campus are overwhelmed by these disadvantages. Call them annoyances. Consider yourself a customer who is required to pay much more, and then receive these annoyances. Now a strong feeling of injustice creeps in.
Let us get back to the recently announced rule. The content itself is not much a problem; rather, the way it is implemented is quite unsettling. On what basis was it proposed? Would it be better for the whole community, or would it just cause more burdens? Would it be practical – consider when the trash rooms are closed, and trash starts accumulating in front of their doors, or in the hallways, or in other public places?
Unless there is a very clear basis for the rule, recommending it, instead of immediately implementing it, will make it much better received.
On the overall, many things need to change. Otherwise, years from now, OWU may expect little donation from some of its alumni.