<p>My S is at a top 30 school. He is a freshman. On Sunday morning it was discovered that someone had thrown up in the bathroom on his floor in the dorm. No one admitted to it and the RA said that it better be cleaned up by the guilty party before 6PM on Sunday. Anyway, no one came forward and every boy on the floor was fined $60. My S said he had nothing to do with it and just figured that the person responsible would take care of it. My S works very hard during the summers to earn his spending money…it takes him a while to earn $60 after taxes. I think that the fine seems very steep and, quite frankly, I wonder what is being done with the monies collected. There are about 40 kids on his floor. That could add up to close to $2,000. Most of the kids stay on the campus on the weekends. My S feels it is unfair. Is this typical discipline in other colleges? Do you all think that the fine seems high?</p>
<p>I think its outrageous. What if someone was bulimic or had a stomach virus? What if someone was not use to drinking? The person may not have intentionally left the bathroom dirty, but is embarrassed to step forward.
Who determined this fee? I’d definitely protest, of I was your S.</p>
<p>Hmmm, they had a system at Tulane at the end of the year to assess “community damages” - ie, any damages to the dorm which couldn’t be ascribed to an individual/room were assessed to the whole dorm. DS’ total for the term was about $9.00 and change.</p>
<p>$60 seems high for “actual” damages, but they may be trying to deliver a message and change a culture here. I would certainly check to see what happens to this money (hope it doesn’t become part of the RA’s compensation!). If they were just trying to get it cleaned up, assessing the floor mates a couple bucks each would certainly cover janitorial costs.</p>
<p>My son goes to the same school, and I have never heard of this. However, the “Guide to Community Living” does say that the residential life staff has the right to levy and collect fines for “special cleaning”, although $60 per occupant seems too high.</p>
<p>It could even have been guest that left shortly after – so all floor members could be innocent.</p>
<p>It seems very unfair to me and unlikely to change the behavior of the guilty party.</p>
<p>Who is the $60 check made out to?</p>
<p>The $60 is probably a cleaning charge which will be divided among all students in the dorm. Our son had a small charge added to his final spring term bill for dorm expenses, it amounted to less than $10. It was no big deal in my mind. If he is in a suite situation, I suppose that it might be divided among suite mates which would make the charge higher though.</p>
<p>It might seem unfair but a charge of less than a dollar is nothing to get worked up about. If it is $60/resident, the dorm should talk it out with the responsible RA to come to a more equitable solution.</p>
<p>So, the vomit, a very unhealthy substance, was left on the floor ALL day by the RA?</p>
<p>Gee, I would protest that!!! Seriouslly, assess a fine, $10 a person maybe, but to leave something like that out all day is unsafe, unsanitary, and potentially dangerous</p>
<p>To report the vomit being left is not to punish the RA, but for the RA to leave it out, smelling gross, and leaving who knows what germs around, was very poor judgement</p>
<p>It seems like something for your S to discuss with whatever is his dorm or floor’s government. If that doesn’t exist, then he and other students should take it up with the housing office.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>$60 is outrageous.</p></li>
<li><p>Obviously, not necessarily anyone on the floor who did it. Obviously, 99% certainty someone on the floor at least knows who did it. </p></li>
<li><p>The RA let it stay on the floor all day while he played Stalag 17 Kommandant? That’s outrageous, too.</p></li>
<li><p>But what is really, totally outrageous to me is that no one, NO ONE, on this floor in this dorm at this “top 30 school” JUST WENT AHEAD AND CLEANED THE MESS UP. What would it take? Three minutes? Four? Two if two people did it together? How could none of the people whose bathroom this is take any minimal responsibility for maintaining it even if he, personally, didn’t vomit. Who are these people? Kicking them all out of college (along with the RA) would probably be a good idea, rather than setting them loose in polite society. I really hope they learn some kind of lesson from this, but from this discussion I fear that the lesson they’re learning is resentment and proceduralism instead of compassion and responsibility.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>This is a good time for parents to go back to sleep.</p>
<p>Fair or not, this is the kid’s problem, not the parent’s, and I’m sure there is more to the story or the residential life staff will have a big problem on its hands. You think the kids would take this passively?</p>
<p>But what is really, totally outrageous to me is that no one, NO ONE, on this floor in this dorm at this “top 30 school” JUST WENT AHEAD AND CLEANED THE MESS UP. What would it take? Three minutes? Four? Two if two people did it together? How could none of the people whose bathroom this is take any minimal responsibility for maintaining it even if he, personally, didn’t vomit. Who are these people? Kicking them all out of college (along with the RA) would probably be a good idea, rather than setting them loose in polite society. I really hope they learn some kind of lesson from this, but from this discussion I fear that the lesson they’re learning is resentment and proceduralism instead of compassion and responsibility.</p>
<p>That was my thought
What they thought their mother was going to come along and clean it up?
I dont care if they didn’t do it- someone on the floor should have cleaned it up and not wait for someone else to take charge-</p>
<p>It does seem odd that not a single student was willing to step in and clean up the mess in order to potentially save himself and his hallmates $60 each. I think my son would have just cleaned up the mess. This is an important life lesson: Responsible people spend a lot of time cleaning up the messes (both literally and figuratively) of others!</p>
<p>Similar incidences happened with my son last year (though without the fine). Once some of the boys pushed the screen in on the projection TV in the lounge. My son and another boy stayed up late one night, took the TV apart and somehow got the screen pushed back out and fixed. Another time someone on floor threw up in the entrance to bathroom (obviously after drinking because it reeked of alcohol). Son and a couple boys asked around, found out who did it and physically marched culprit to bathroom and stood over him while he cleaned it up. (I am hoping their threats were to let everyone know who did it and not physical threats!)</p>
<p>My S’s dorm room (in a “substance free” hall) last year was directly across from the hall bathroom. He said it was routine to wake up on Sunday mornings to a puddle of puke outside his door or just inside the bathroom door where somebody couldn’t make it all the way in before losing it. He never said who was responsible for cleaning up. If there was any kind of fine, he never mentioned it.<br>
It seems very wrong for each kid to pay $60. Someone needs to contact the residence life office and make some inquiries.</p>
<p>I had a similar epiphany last summer. This is something very obvious that you don’t realize until it affects you: A typical “fine” is a very regressive tax! Similar to a ticket you might get for a cracked tail lamp or parking too far from the curb. If I get the ticket I am annoyed and pay the fine. If my kid gets the ticket, I am forced to realize that he goes to work, works all day, then he has to spend his entire day’s pay on a dubious ticket!</p>
<p>In your case, clearly it is not fair, but it’s not about fair, it’s keeping the dorm puke-free.</p>
<p>$60 is so unfair. </p>
<p>How about each kid pitch in $1 and pay one of them to clean it up? They could even draw for the unlucky “volunteer.”</p>
<p>Heck, for $40 I’d be willing to spend 5-10 minutes mopping up vomit.</p>
<p>I’m actually wondering about the level of tolerance for the sight and smell of puke. I get queasy just thinking about it. How could the students use the bathroom for so long without getting the urge to get rid of it, never mind avoiding a fine?</p>
<p>What I’m wondering is what the college’s protocol is in this situation. Do they actually want other students to clean up vomit? There could be a problem here in terms of the potential for disease transmission and most students’ ignorance of universal precautions. Ideally, the person who caused the problem would clean it up – there’s no potential for disease transmission there. But if that doesn’t happen, should other students be expected to put themselves at risk?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is college. At many colleges, the smell of puke is considered normal. It goes along with the smell of stale beer, the smell of cheap spilled wine and a few other things less legal.</p>
<p>I guess with practice, you can get used to most any smell.</p>