Lauren JosephOn returning to campus, from a much needed break, I was greeted by numerous postings of semester damages:
$200.00 for holes in the walls.
$100.00 for staircase rails replaced.
$225.00 for kitchen and living room screens replaced.
Priceless: the fact that our parents won’t kill us if we did this to our own home.
These charges are divided amongst all of the residents that live within House One, the Maguire House.
As residents, we fill out Room Condition Reports at the beginning of each year and the school then assesses damages based upon changes from the RCR’s. The damage reports seen all over campus housing are assessments of damages to common areas and all housing areas with the exception of individual rooms. The school does not ask students to fill out condition reports of the house or housing on the move-in day. I suppose we now have to take the schools’ word for their damage appraisal.
The school is in a position to penalize its’ residents for the lack of adequate maintenance done prior to student’s arrival each year. I won’t argue that students trash and destroy property, but I will say that if conditions in housing weren’t approaching dilapidation, then perhaps students would not continue to damage property. This situation stems from overall unhappiness of student life. Students don’t feel the least bit guilty about scratching up staircase rails or throwing trash around. The housing on campus is already disgusting and why should students care about where they live if it is not respectable to begin with?
The Maguire House had a total damage bill of $550. When divided amongst the residents the bill is about $30 per person. Individual amounts aren’t too unreasonable, but my point is, on- campus housing certainly needs renovations.
With a decent living environment, I believe housing damage bills would decline.
Posted to the web by Lauren Joseph
