I agree with Michonne L. Omo’s view on the community standards and resident mentor system (“Dorm standards should be higher for all,” SN 1/16). This is my fourth year in the dorms, and as far as my living situation is concerned, the worst. Community standards are close to being a good idea, but they lack one thing: Discipline.

There is virtually no incentive for obeying the community standards on your floor. You can violate quiet hours, bang on people’s doors, play sports in the hall and dump trash or cut your hair in the bathroom without being written up. I’m not speaking abstractly - I’ve seen all of these things happen on my floor this school year.

I’ll admit I’m not Mr. Perfect Resident. There was an incident last semester when a chair kept on getting knocked into my door. Each time it happened, those involved would run into a room and slam the door. After disposing of the chair several times, including once into their room, my door was knocked into again, so I destroyed the marker board on their door. Was it the first time I had had my door knocked into that semester? No, far from it. Was it the best way to handle the situation? No, not at all, and I made amends with those guys the next day. My end of the hall is still noisy, but I didn’t really expect things to change. They don’t have any reason to obey the community standards, so why should they?

I wonder what Ann Marie Bolger, the late Residence Life director, would have to say about what community standards have become. It’s a shame her last contribution to MSU has turned out this way. But regardless of what she would say, or what anyone else can say about how the program will improve in the following years, I’m just glad I’ll be living off campus next fall.

And thank God for ear plugs.

Mark Pulver
computer science senior