I have to disagree with Mark Pulver’s view of the new community standards and resident mentor system (”Dorm standards need discipline,” SN 1/17).

I also am living in the dorms for a fourth year now, but I feel the mentor system is a vast step in the right direction. I feel that MSU’s academic programs strive for preparing their students for the real world, and now the residence halls have taken the same approach.

In the old system, living in the dorms was too discipline-based and taught the residents nothing. It was always the resident assistant’s responsibility to deal with situations, and the residents never learned how to deal with things themselves. Now students can learn valuable life skills such as assertiveness, diplomacy and problem solving.

Mr. Pulver, when you get immersed in the real world there won’t always be an RA to defend your rights, whether it be at your residence or workplace. So I am going to challenge you to view this new situation as a learning experience where you can learn the skills necessary to cooperate with others and yet defend your rights.

You can’t go through life wearing earplugs.

Theodore Pokorski
finance senior