A typical article in the Viewpoint Section makes a nuanced argument about a complicated issue in 800-1200 words. This format helps maintain a standard of substantive and fair content. There are, however, newsworthy opinions that just don’t need a full article. To do service to these smaller viewpoints, I’ve compiled a few abridged arguments into this larger article. Here are seven of my gripes and gratitudes about campus life.
Gripe: the washer-to-dryer ratio.
This gripe was suggested by Jackson Eippert.
Dorms at Carleton have free access to washers and dryers. This is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately, dorms at Carleton have free access to an equal number of washers and dryers. This fact is less wonderful. One cycle in a washer takes about half an hour, while one cycle in a dryer takes a full hour, and the dryers often don’t fully dry clothing, so students often run two dryer cycles for one load of laundry. As a result, the steady stream of students doing their laundry inevitably stalls with wet clothes sitting in open washers.
On multiple occasions, I have put my laundry in a washer, set a timer and returned to find every dryer busy for another half hour. Scheduling an hour and a half into a busy Carleton schedule is difficult, and realizing that your careful scheduling is going to be thrown off can feel miserable. As dorms are updated and machines are replaced, surely someone can handle whatever laundry calculations are needed to streamline this process.
This specific gripe doesn’t even touch on dorm-to-dorm differences in the machine-to-resident ratio. This issue should also be addressed by better planning during future maintenance efforts.
Gratitude: the Class of 1974 Center.
The new Class of 1974 Center is an incredible addition to campus.
The Office of Accessibility Resources (OAR) used to be in an old house. The private testing spaces were very limited and, ironically, the offices were up an inaccessible flight of stairs. The old location communicated that accessibility was not a priority for Carleton. The new home of OAR in the Class of 1974 Center is accessible, has appropriate testing spaces and feels much more professional.
Student Health and Counseling (SHAC) used to be housed in a section of the first floor of a dorm. The new SHAC offices in the Class of 1974 Center feel like a proper clinic. The rooms are bright and, critically, they are finally soundproof.
The very choice to locate these two offices in the same building is a huge step towards showing students with disabilities that we are welcome and supported at Carleton.
Gripe: Workday
Workday is the worst.
Gratitude: streamlined campus announcements.
Until recently, I received a torrent of notifications every time campus announcements were sent out. It was annoying, and it flooded my Carleton inbox. Recently, I finally got around to changing my settings so that all of the announcements are sent in a single manageable email, and I highly recommend it.
For the uninitiated, here are instructions: look up “Google Groups” and sign in with your Carleton email. You will see a list of groups listed with a join date and a subscription type. Look under the groups tab until you see “campus_announcements,” and change the subscription type from “Each email” to “Abridged.”
Gripe: campus laundry etiquette.
This is a student-impact view of the previous laundry-related gripe. Students come to Carleton from diverse laundry backgrounds, resulting in a campus community plagued by inconsistent laundry philosophies. Differing beliefs about how many machines one person should use at a time, how quickly laundry should be moved once a machine is done and who is responsible for cleaning a lint tray are no one student’s fault, but they cause issues.
Completely resolving this gripe isn’t feasible, but I will offer the set of laundry guidelines I use; readers can add their personal rules as comments on The Carletonian website and maybe together we will find the ideal set of guidelines.
These are my rules: 1) If you know a machine has just finished, wait ten minutes before dumping the clothes out yourself, but if you don’t know how long the machine has been running, you’re free to dump it as soon as you need it. 2) Use at most two machines at a time. 3) Clean the lint tray when you take your dry clothes out. You can scoop out the lint with your used dryer sheet. 4) If another person is doing their laundry at the same time as you, don’t make eye contact.
Gratitude: the SUMO movie selections.
The Student Union Movie Organization (SUMO) has the difficult job of selecting movies within budget that will appeal to a diverse student body, and this term, SUMO has done a great job. Last Fall Term, SUMO drew backlash for spending the bulk of its budget on showing a few very new releases. The selections so far this year show a clear response to that feedback.
The chosen movies span a variety of genres and vibes, clearly aimed at a broad audience.
Gripe: the one plate policy at LDC.
I really don’t think our dining halls are that bad, but they do require some resourcefulness. Generally, I can shop around the various stations and put together a passable meal, but this year, a newly enforced policy has complicated my meal strategy.
In previous years, East Dining Hall staff in the Language and Dining Center (LDC) could serve food directly onto a student’s half-empty plate, but this year, staff have been strictly directed to use a new plate for each specific station. LDC, unlike Burton, does not have trays available, so students are left balancing several plates as they walk through the crowded dining hall. This policy creates more traffic in the service area as some students stop to configure their food onto one plate and bring their other dishes directly to the washing station, highlighting the additional inefficiency of having to wash extra dishes that aren’t being used.
As a student with mobility disabilities who uses a cane, this policy has been especially disruptive. Still, even for the average visitor to LDC with two free hands, the policy is annoying. I’m sure the change is motivated by reasonable intentions, but maybe put out some trays.