Min Cho doesn’t smoke, but he might have to pay $100 for the nearly 50 cigarette burns that cover the blue carpet of the fourth floor study lounge in West McDonel Hall.
“I realize that I have responsibility because I live here, even though I don’t smoke, but $100 is just too much to pay,” the computer science freshman said.
Floor residents received a notice that they each would have to pay $100 - about $4,000 total - to replace the carpeting.
The common-area damages clause of the residence hall handbook states that residents all will be held equally financially responsible for destruction to their floor, unless someone comes forward and confesses to the damage.
McDonel Hall manager Chandos McCoy said this is no exception.
“They’re contractually and morally obligated to take care of this,” he said. “They absolutely have the duty.
“It’s an issue of illegal activities taking place on the floor and the majority of students had to know about it. They chose to have no concern for their living area, or the damage it was causing.”
No police report has been filed on the damage, but McCoy said there is no question in his mind that multiple floor residents are responsible for the damage. Nobody has admitted to causing the damage, but residents say they have their own suspicions.
“All the damage had to have occurred this year, because the carpet was just put in this summer,” McCoy said.
McCoy thinks it was rude behavior on the part of the residents that could have been avoided and now they need to be held accountable.
“This is no different than someone coming into a house and smoking and putting it out on the carpet and thinking it’s OK,” he said. “Everyone should have been more aware of what was going on and taken positive steps to prevent it.”
McCoy said the figure of $100 per resident was just an initial estimate. Although no officials estimates have been made yet, McCoy said there appeared to be about $4,000 in damage.
“An exact figure will be determined at a later date,” he said. “There’s also been other damage on the floor that was not specifically noted.”
Telecommunication sophomore Mike Bongiorno, who lives on the floor, is infuriated about the whole situation - specifically the amount of money floor residents could be charged.
“It’s ridiculous that we have to pay for something that we didn’t do. Besides that it’s an excessive amount to pay,” he said. “It’s just pointless, malicious destruction. Why would we do this to our own floor?”
Bongiorno admits some people on the floor smoke in the lounge - which is against university ordinance and state law - but they don’t put out their cigarettes on the carpet.
“If you’re going to punish somebody, punish the people responsible,” he said. “We’re the victims here. Half of us don’t even go in the lounge. We live in our rooms.
“If they want to fine us for smoking in there, that’s fine. We’ll pay it. But don’t charge those who don’t smoke, and don’t make us pay for burns we didn’t make. They’re going about it all wrong.”
