Respect. People often cringe upon hearing that word. In the minds of many of our generation, the idea of respect conjures up visions of oppressive power structures and surly grandparents. I want to make it clear that is not what I mean when I use the word. That being said, I am asking all Sagehens to have a little more respect for their campus. Refraining from random acts of vandalism is not selling out to "the man."

Although the entire year has been characterized by a surprising lack of respect for college property, the events of the past few weekends have been especially disappointing. The weekend can be a fun time to unwind, but the drunkenness in which many students engage does not have to be destructive or messy. The Smith Campus Center looked embarrassing the day after the Booty Party, with discarded beer cans and bottles littering the grounds. That was the least of the offenses, though. Apparently, some students think that vandalism and theft are key components of a fun-filled weekend.

Part of the problem is the culture of permissiveness created by student indifference to all types of vandalism. Many of us simply look the other way when our neighbors break ceiling tiles or litter the hallway. Although it is difficult to censure ourselves, our friends and our neighbors, it is the only way to keep our campus in good order. Preventing these low-level types of vandalism would help to eliminate the concept of a continuum on which some transgressions are decreed permissable.

People often pass these crimes off as cute little aberrations, but they are of serious concern. We are not actors in one big Mentos commercial and stealing a couch from a dorm lounge is not a vignetteish little coup. Such a theft means that someone who comes into the lounge, expecting to be able to relax, has no place to sit. The college appropriated funds so that the couch would be there for everyone to use, not just for one person.

The idea that your $33,000 entitles you to special privileges is absurd and antithetical to the founding principles of the College. Those who listened when Bruce Poch welcomed the freshman class might remember that the actual cost of educating a Pomona student is upwards of $50,000 a year; everyone here is on financial aid. As far as I have been able to tell, the only categories included in the cost of attendance estimate are tuition, fees, books, room and board, and personal expenses. Nowhere in that estimate is there an allowance for random vandalism. Perhaps these hoodlums think such a charge should be added to the expense package? Personally, I prefer that it remain a per-usage fee, as I do not desire to pay for other people’s disorderliness.

The price exacted by this destructiveness cannot be measured solely in monetary terms. Certainly the prestige of this institution is injured when its physical plant is compromised. Members of the surrounding community regularly walk through the campus; littered beer cans do nothing to enhance our image. Prospective freshman also visit Pomona, but I wonder how attractive they find an institution that boasts broken shower heads and mutilated ceiling tiles. Vandalism misrepresents (or perhaps belies) the character of Pomona College and its student body. Destruction of communal resources reflects poorly upon all Sagehens.

Damaging college property impairs its functionality for all students. There is no room for the attitude that one has some sort of ‘right’ to destroy private property. There are more students than there are maintenance workers; things can be broken much more quickly than they can be fixed. Other students lose the use of those resources their tuition helped to pay for. As members of a community, we must recognize the necessity to share resources equally. It is unpleasant to be forced to use a dirty bathroom or to have to walk through a hall that smells of stale beer. Regardless of the rules or which authority structures we might like to subvert, it seems like a very small request to ask for basic consideration for the communal spaces we all must inhabit.

This gives cause to remember that we were all hand-picked to attend Pomona. The admissions staff saw potential within each of us to enrich the College with our presence; we have a responsibility not to disappoint them. It is asking very little that we accord some basic respect to an institution that has nurtured us and will continue to do so.