The ORL is Worse than My Parents

As Stevens students, whether it be as a freshman or as a graduating senior, we constantly complain (and will probably continue to nostalgically complain following graduation) about the quality of the food at Pierce Dining Hall, the cooperative development program, and a wide variety of other aspects of campus life that we find fault with. One aspect of campus life that is particularly attacked by students is the Office of Residence Life and the conditions of their residence halls and other housing options. Some of the issues that are common among students are the overcrowding in the dorms, the quality of the accommodations, the difficulty of finding and attaining a spot in any one of the housing options, and, most vehemently, the lack of freedom that living in an on-campus or Stevens leased housing room warrants.

For some students, the dorm is a sanctuary, a place to escape to with friends from classes, teachers, and responsibilities. For others, however, the dorms seem more like a prison. Despite the freedom from home that living at school allows, dorm life is not as freeing as you might think. Sure, you’re no longer (for the most part) under the rules and scrutiny of your parents and family, but you are forced to adopt a new set of rules. Whereas the rules that your parents force  on you, whether you want to admit it or not, are often times for your own good,  the rules that are in place at school are usually not in place just for you, but for your fellow students and, on a greater scale, for the welfare of the campus. Thus, while it may have seemed that your parents restricted your every movement at home, life on campus, to me, seems much more restricted.

At home, the only explicitly stated rule in my family was to not do anything that I would regret or be ashamed of in the future. Although it was a single rule, it applied to almost every situation and was able to dictate many of my decisions without having to force a lengthy set of rules on me. Here at Stevens, however, the amount of rules and regulations that I am under could span several pages. While living away from home during college is often seen as a freeing experience, looking at the webpage of the Office of Residence Life, I see much more “don’t”s, “no”s “not”s, “can’t”s, and other such words than ones stating what you actually allowed to do. Perhaps that is because the ORL finds it be easier to say what you cannot do rather than what you can, but regardless it still creates the same feeling of restriction and regulations.

The ORL website calls campus life as Stevens “comfortable and convenient”, “a vibrant and dynamic living and learning environment”, and “the best way to become a part of the Stevens family”. Perhaps calling it a “family” warrants the amount of rules and regulations we are given when we accept the dorm life since most of us find our families at home just as restricting. However, at home I find a bit more freedom. Perhaps not the freedom to go wherever, whenever, but what I did do, I could do with ease and flexibility and without having to circumvent a hierarchy or follow a designated order of actions that I do here.

Here at Stevens, beyond leaving and coming when you want, the dorms bring about a plethora of rules to be followed. First and foremost, the use of a card swipe to gain access to the dorms. The ID is an indication that you belong to the campus and it is what gets you access to most of campus. (http://www.stevens.edu/sit/cardoffice) Should you lose this, you have to a pay fee to replace it or else lose privileges to most, if not all, facilities on campus. Other actions, such as early arrivals for move in also have their own forms that must be submitted for approval. Additionally there are forms for housing cancellations, housing extension, room changes, work orders, overnight guests, and many more. On top of this is a whole list of policies we must abide in living in Stevens housing.

So the next time you think you are free to live your life here on campus however you want, keep in mind that you still have a list of rules dictating your actions. Rules which, when broken, will not lead to a grounding but rather a harsher punishment of being kicked out of housing or even, in some cases, expulsion from the school.