Residential Life: Individual responsibility
Anthony Soto
Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: Campus Life
If there is one thing that the campus community agrees on; it would have to be how outrageous our damage bills are. How does a $4 ceiling tile turn into a $25 or $30 damage repair bill? Maybe you've been charged $25 per bag of improperly disposed garbage, which in the majority of cases has no connection to the person being charged, other than the fact that they live in the building and/or area. Each semester students are getting charged $50 to $100 in damages. I am not claiming that these bills should not be paid, but I do think it's unfair that everyone has to pay even if they had nothing to do with the damage. Only the students responsible for the damage should be charged. In a perfect world this would be great, but realistically it's not possible. Why? The answer is simple, not everyone is willing to hold themselves and others accountable for their actions.
Many people, including myself, often pay little attention to things like a damage bill. Often, we pay without objection and do not give it a second thought. Although it is easier to just pay the bill and forget about it, is it the right way to deal with it? Should we be more proactive in these matters? Shouldn't we be holding ourselves and our peers accountable for the actions we take? This may seem like an overreaction to a damage bill, but the truth is that this is beyond the dollar amount. What happens when we are confronted with something bigger? Would you call the police if you saw a driver hit a pedestrian? Would you intervene if you saw someone being treated unjustly? You may be thinking to yourself, "Of course I would step in and do something." However, there are many times, both on this campus and in the towns and cities around us, where someone's actions have negatively affected other people and no one did anything. To give an example, about two years ago in my hometown there was an elderly man crossing a busy intersection and a car struck the man. Did the person who hit him stop? Did someone call 911? Did anyone go over to the elderly man, lying in the middle of the road to see if he was okay? No one reacted. The person in the car drove away and was never found. People walked on the sidewalk and just stared at the distressed man in the middle of the road. If someone had told me this story I probably would not have believed him or her. However, this was all caught on a surveillance camera from a local business. What would you have done?
Many people, including myself, often pay little attention to things like a damage bill. Often, we pay without objection and do not give it a second thought. Although it is easier to just pay the bill and forget about it, is it the right way to deal with it? Should we be more proactive in these matters? Shouldn't we be holding ourselves and our peers accountable for the actions we take? This may seem like an overreaction to a damage bill, but the truth is that this is beyond the dollar amount. What happens when we are confronted with something bigger? Would you call the police if you saw a driver hit a pedestrian? Would you intervene if you saw someone being treated unjustly? You may be thinking to yourself, "Of course I would step in and do something." However, there are many times, both on this campus and in the towns and cities around us, where someone's actions have negatively affected other people and no one did anything. To give an example, about two years ago in my hometown there was an elderly man crossing a busy intersection and a car struck the man. Did the person who hit him stop? Did someone call 911? Did anyone go over to the elderly man, lying in the middle of the road to see if he was okay? No one reacted. The person in the car drove away and was never found. People walked on the sidewalk and just stared at the distressed man in the middle of the road. If someone had told me this story I probably would not have believed him or her. However, this was all caught on a surveillance camera from a local business. What would you have done?
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