Health and Safety: A Student's Perspective

Photo by: Ashley Alonzo

Students in Martin Hall were frustrated to find out their nearly spotless rooms were not clean enough to pass the recent health and safety checks. Not a single room on the second floor of Martin Hall passed, except for the two resident assistants’ rooms. While the dorms are supposed to be a home away from home, strict expectations make it hard to be comfortable and simply live life as you would in the comfort of your own home. 

In “the real world,” as some of us call it, sometimes the dishes from breakfast don’t get done before you leave for work. People don’t stop having trash to throw away because their in-laws are coming over the next morning and it would be interesting to know the amount of adults whoactually make their beds. To not grant these actions as acceptable ignores students’ basic needs to be comfortable in the halls.

With almost every student involved in an extracurricular activity on top of their studies, it is difficult to believe the university would demand our rooms to be as spotless as Cinderella’s. While the monthly room checks are called “health and safety” for a reason, these small violations to their stringent checklists do not propose any threat to the inhabitants of the rooms or residence halls. The employees in charge of checking rooms should have better judgment on what is a direct threat to the people living there.

An outline of how to prepare was not provided prior to the inspection, leaving students confused. In the future, this would make it easier for students to know how to leave their rooms the morning of inspections. If faculty also warrants actions that propose recent activity of life, room inspections will be easier on the students and staff.

In the end, we all just want to be comfortable where we live. No one wants to live in a dirty hall. However, perfect cleanliness is not realistic for the busy lifestyle of a college student. The strict guidelines clearly impose that the halls are not a home of your own, but rather a room at an institution.

Find the resident assistant's perspective in our opinion section.