The punch line, of course, comprises the last two sentences:
Universities crack down on wild student behaviour
Globe and Mail. Alexandra Posadzki. Toronto — The Canadian Press. Published Monday, Mar. 07, 2011 12:39AM EST.
... Officials at Ryerson University in Toronto say they’re taking steps to discipline students after an “out of control” party in one residence building racked up a $4,000 cleaning bill.
... Students ravaged the sixth floor of a residence building on Feb. 2 after staff crashed their party, Mr. Nuttall said.
A big chunk of the $4,000 bill was deep cleaning vomit out of carpets and sweeping up broken glass.
If no one comes forward to take responsibility for the damage, the entire floor may be billed for the costs as a last resort, Mr. Nuttall said.
... The damage — which included five bathroom windows, a hallway mirror and the bathroom door — were caused by belligerent partiers who spilled out of packed dorms and into the hallway in early February.
“People get drunk and rowdy and think breaking stuff is funny,” [a student who lives in residence] said.
... Ryerson student Rebecca Zanussi calls the damage a “symptom” of student dissatisfaction with strict rules.
“People learn more if they’re supported by the environment they’re in instead of policed,” Ms. Zanussi said.
Universities crack down on wild student behaviour
Globe and Mail. Alexandra Posadzki. Toronto — The Canadian Press. Published Monday, Mar. 07, 2011 12:39AM EST.
... Officials at Ryerson University in Toronto say they’re taking steps to discipline students after an “out of control” party in one residence building racked up a $4,000 cleaning bill.
... Students ravaged the sixth floor of a residence building on Feb. 2 after staff crashed their party, Mr. Nuttall said.
A big chunk of the $4,000 bill was deep cleaning vomit out of carpets and sweeping up broken glass.
If no one comes forward to take responsibility for the damage, the entire floor may be billed for the costs as a last resort, Mr. Nuttall said.
... The damage — which included five bathroom windows, a hallway mirror and the bathroom door — were caused by belligerent partiers who spilled out of packed dorms and into the hallway in early February.
“People get drunk and rowdy and think breaking stuff is funny,” [a student who lives in residence] said.
... Ryerson student Rebecca Zanussi calls the damage a “symptom” of student dissatisfaction with strict rules.
“People learn more if they’re supported by the environment they’re in instead of policed,” Ms. Zanussi said.
Absolutely! Everyone should be free to break windows and vomit on the carpets. That will support learning no end.
ReplyDeleteSend Ms. Zanussi the bill.
ReplyDeleteSociety is to blame? "Agreed. We'll be charging them too," said the Detective-Parson (Michael Palin), in the Monty Python "Church Police" sketch.
ReplyDeleteIs that rat tart? DisGUSTing!!
Charlie Sheen is our fault too: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110307/ap_en_ot/over_sheened
ReplyDeleteMore Monty Python:
ReplyDelete"Make a thing illegal and it acquires a mystique. Look at arson - I mean, how many of us can honestly say that at one time or another he hasn't set fire to some great public building. I know I have. The only way to bring the crime figures down is to reduce the number of offences - get it out in the open - I know I have."
Squeak.
I wonder what social theory Ms. Zanussi would cite to back up her theory...and whether the students got together and said "Hey! That rule about no unlaminated posters is such bullshit! Let's break some mirrors!"
ReplyDeleteThe super in my (ivy-covered) freshman dorm used to wander the halls early in the morning, picking up trash (both properly put out -- we were supposed to leave wastebaskets just outside our doors for emptying -- and not) and muttering "filthy pigs," mostly under his breath, but sometimes more audibly when he came upon a particularly disgusting mess. It was a bit disturbing, but I couldn't entirely blame him.
ReplyDeleteI *was* a janitor at an elite private high school, just before I began my Ph.D. program. Watching entitled rich kids trash common property-- an environment that my own kid will likely never have access to--made me sick. The crowing glory came when our soccer team hosted a visiting team with signs saying "Someday [High School X] players will be our janitors."
ReplyDeleteI'm surprised more custodians don't go postal, actually.
in my undergrad days, we made friends with our janitors to the point that we would break into the janitor's closet in order to get the vacuum cleaner on Sundays to clean up the results of our saturday night bacchanals.
ReplyDeletebut then, most of the students were working class and had family members in similar jobs.
I think part of the concern on the part of the six young women in my particular sub-hallway was that all of us came, if not from working-class backgrounds, at least from households where there was no illusion that messes magically disappeared on their own, and we tried not to leave messes that would require more than routine cleaning to remove (some sand tracked onto the hall carpet in the winter -- yes; drop ice cream or pizza on the carpet and just leave it there -- no. None of us were enough into drinking to create the vomit-on-carpet problem.) So, at least on our hallway, he really was just doing his job, and we couldn't have created less work for him except by taking trash to the dumpster ourselves (which would have been fine, but wasn't the prescribed routine).
ReplyDeleteWe also weren't entirely sure that the same refrain was muttered, and occasionally bellowed, on the men's floors; comparing notes with male compatriots, we began to suspect that the super -- a longtime employee of a formerly-all-male institution -- might have some particular objection to cleaning up after women, though we never quite pinned that one down. It may just have been that ours was the last floor he tackled every morning, and he was thoroughly fed up by then.
So can I puke on and tear up my students papers because of strict rules of conduct for teachers in their treatment of students, Ms. Zanussi? COOL! Party on, Garth...
ReplyDelete