One thing we have lost in our generation is respect for our dormitories and peers. After living in Hash for two years now, I understand that we get annoyed because we’re cramped, or we hate E’s food, or we don’t want to follow the rules because we’re “adults.” But just because the majority of students are at least 18 does not give them the right to refer to themselves as adults.

“If you want to be treated like an adult, then act like one,” is what my father has told me for the past few years. Just like punishing a child, you punish the “adult” because they did wrong. However, many of us feel we are too old or too independent to be told what to do.

Perhaps if we acted like adults maybe no one would be babying us. As an employer in Hash, I find more of these “adults” than I expected. I find profanity written on the walls, elevator lights removed, trash left in the lobbies, and filthy bathrooms.

I am ashamed to show my face to the janitorial staff because I am embarrassed that the dorm is left this way. Think of it this way: These dorms are our homes. Would you trash your house back home? Of course not. Besides the fact that our parental units would beat the living hell out of us, we simply don’t want to live in filth. Hash was renovated in 2006, so it is the nicest dorm on campus. In order for it to be kept that way we need to respect it and the future students who will live here.

I feel like saying “don’t shoot the messenger” whenever someone gives me shit about telling them to not do something. Residence hall staffers can get tired of the rudeness, attitudes, disrespect and overall bullshit that we get from residents. Hey, we’re students too, just doing our job and making money.

If you don’t like the rules that are set out by student housing, if you feel the staff is pointless for enforcing rules, then by all means live off-campus next year. Deal with the police instead of a desk assistant every time a complaint is filed.

So next time you decide to destroy something for whatever reason, just ask yourself, am I acting like an adult?

— Ashley DeSandre is a sophomore from Pocono Lake, Penn.