Dear Editor:

Is it just me, or does the NU administration think we’re made of money?

When I read about the new policy stating that dorm residents will be charged $200 if they lock themselves out of their rooms three times, I was stunned. When I was living on campus, $200 was usually as much as I ever had in my bank account, and my family is comfortably middle-class. What about those who are not?

I get that it’s annoying for CAs to have to let residents into their rooms. I get that because I’ve been a CA, and I had to do lockouts almost every day.

But I’ve also been a dorm resident, and I know that it can be difficult to negotiate things like this with roommates. It can be difficult to remember to grab your keys as you stumble to the bathroom at 8 a.m. because your roommate might leave and lock the door. It’s especially difficult given that many dorms have doors that lock automatically, which just isn’t something people are used to. I can’t even count the number of times I stepped out of my room to empty a trash can or borrow a stapler from a friend and realized that I’d let the door shut behind me and left my keys in it.

Furthermore, this policy will probably encourage residents not to lock their doors at all. After all, with the exception of laptops, which students often take to class anyway, most of the things that could be stolen from our rooms cost less than this ridiculous $200 fee. It will also make students more likely to miss classes while waiting for roommates to return and let them into their rooms.

It’s telling that, according to The Daily’s article about the new policy, “multiple representatives from University Residential Life could repeatedly not be reached, and multiple area coordinators declined to comment on the change.” If you’re going require people to pay $200 fees for the crime of accidentally leaving their keys in their rooms, we deserve an explanation.

Should residents avoid locking themselves out? Yes. Is learning how to avoid locking yourself out probably an important life skill to acquire? Sure. But to many of us, $200 is simply an exorbitant amount of money, and this policy will add yet more unnecessary stress to students’ lives when they may already be struggling to adjust to the demands of college. They deserve a warm and caring welcome, not an extortionary fine intended to punish them for making a mistake.

Miriam Mogilevsky

WCAS Senior

(937) 416-0195

Editor’s note: Miriam Mogilevsky is a former Daily columnist.