Letters to the Editor

Students should be responsible for fire safety needs

Dear Editor,

As a Harrisonburg resident — or "townie" as we somewhat affectionately, somewhat disparagingly are known — I have felt obligated to defend my fellow JMU students when conversing with other Harrisonburg residents. Whether the issue is public drunkenness, traffic congestion or contraceptive choices, I always seek to ensure that local residents understand how JMU students think and feel, and I work to defuse the latent animosity that brews beneath the "Friendly city's" calm demeanor.

After the house editorial that appeared in the Feb. 26 issue of The Breeze, however, I began to wonder if perhaps the 15,000 students at JMU are as immature, spoiled and clueless as the locals perceive them to be.

Fire safety is an important issue; I do not blame the editorial staff of The Breeze for addressing a concern that saves lives. What I cannot condone — nor do I support — is the attitude that grants a free pass to student laziness and irresponsibility when it comes to the issue of fire safety.

Regarding the inspection of smoke detectors, the editorial states, "[The Office of Residence Life] expects students to fulfill the inspection duty, and believes it is the students' responsibility as capable adults. This is an incredible case of the administration shirking its responsibilities."

The editorial continues this disturbing logic later, adding, "It is ridiculous to expect students to be so vigilant as to take it upon themselves to administer these tests. Students, in general, are very nonchalant about many issues."

This is, I believe, the same editorial board that in the previous issue urged students to vote and participate in American democracy. The same editorial staff printed last Thursday's editorial beside an excellent column written by Levar Stoney urging students to take part in shaping Virginia's future.

This man has spent his term as Student Body President fighting in the political arena — or, for those of you who watch too much of "The Real World," the "adult world" where "big people" live — for more funding for this school. Stoney's fighting in the political arena has been so that we, as students, might enjoy more class choices, better professors and a higher quality of facilities.

It would seem to me that this dichotomy is inexcusable. One cannot, on the one hand, claim that JMU students are mature enough to vote and determine governmental and social policy at the local, state and national levels while they, on the other hand, whine about ORL expecting students to perform such a ridiculously simple and important task as checking smoke detectors.

I challenge JMU students and The Breeze to decide whether they will be "capable adults" who accept responsibility for their lives and the chores required of them, or tiny toddlers trapped in adult bodies determined, like Peter Pan and other individuals who live in Never Land, never to grow up.

Until JMU students reach the mature decision to take personal responsibility for fire safety, my advocacy on their behalf is over.

Adam Sharp
Harrisonburg resident

Resident Advisor programs benefit many students

Dear Editor,

I am writing in response to your editorial and article about Resident Adviser programming in the halls. If you and your readers can remember at the end of each semester you lived on campus, your RA handed out a questionnaire that asks lots of questions about on-campus living. The Office of Residence Life uses the information from those questions to plan for future services and programs. This fall, we administered the survey in the hall and had a 63 percent valid return rate. I want to share a few of the results from the fall survey with you.

The last line of the editorial talks about "promoting a better lifestyle for the entire residence hall." Eighty percent of our respondents agree with that statement, indicating that programs offered in the residence halls have made a positive impact on their learning experience while at JMU. Several times in your articles the focus is on the fun activities (we call these community building) related to programming. Our staff also plans programs in academic, multicultural and personal growth areas. Forty-eight percent of our students indicated they chose to attend programs because of the topic or activity of the program.

Seventy-seven percent of our respondents indicated they attended one or more programs in their hall last semester, and 13 percent said they attended six or more.

These surveys are given out at the beginning of November, meaning that these students attended programs in these numbers in the first two and a half months of school. Knowing these numbers, I have to disagree that these activities are a "benefit to a limited few." Last year, our staff planned over 1,700 programs in the residence halls that had a total attendance of over 27,000 students.

The point is, although each program may have few people in attendance, those numbers add up. The purpose of programming within the residence halls is not to attract 100 people to each program, but to meet the needs of each of our residents through programming toward the interests and needs of smaller communities.

Money also is mentioned in your article. Yes, RAs do spend programming money on supplies and food for programming. We provide access to this money for our staff to be able to enhance the programming that goes on in the halls.

According to our survey, 78 percent felt the money that ORL spends on activities to the students is well spent.

At the beginning of each semester we encourage our RAs to do a "needs assessment" of their residents so they know what times are good for programs, what people's needs are and, most importantly, what programs residents want to see and come to. Fifty-one percent of our respondents said the primary reason they would live on campus again is convenient access to campus resources and activities. The student organizations, University Program Board, Center for Multicultural and International Student Services and other large campus organizations and offices exist on campus to program toward wide audiences.

We try to focus our programming on a smaller scale. The atmosphere and activities provided in the hall are an important part of the campus culture. I believe — and the numbers support this belief — that RA programs benefit more than just a few of our on-campus students. I also agree with you, RA programs are important to promote a better lifestyle for our entire residential community.

Sara Owrey
Assistant Director of Residence Life
Student Learning Programs