Upperclassmen: Are the underclassmen at your university just as unbearable?
To give some context: I’m a 21-year-old junior who transferred to my current university last year. Due to disability accommodations, I’m living in a freshman dorm. My school isn’t known for partying; it’s mainly home to commuters, non-traditional students, and locals. However, the behavior I’ve witnessed among the freshmen and sophomores has truly taken things to another level.
Just the other night, someone in one of our dorm lounges irresponsibly set off a fire extinguisher for no reason, damaging a 20-year-old piece of alumni art and leaving the mess for the police to deal with in the morning.
To make matters worse, we’ve got someone in our hallway who has been picking their nose and smearing it on the shared bathroom wall for weeks! We can’t identify the culprit, and our maintenance staff won’t clean it, so we’re forced to take care of it ourselves out of sheer frustration.
Attendance at mandatory floor meetings is another issue. Many of them skip these meetings, wasting the RAs’ time who then have to hunt them down. These meetings only happen twice a semester and they barely last five minutes!
Regarding room inspections, the majority of students fail them, even though the checks are quick and straightforward—taking less than 30 seconds. The RAs have voiced their concerns about overall cleanliness and hygiene.
To top it off, there’s a clear lack of basic hygiene; students aren’t washing their hands after using the restrooms, and those who are sick still attend class or social events without masks. According to our health services office, this has resulted in the fastest spread of illness we’ve ever seen on campus.
Is this a widespread issue? Are there any universities that have managed to avoid this kind of behavior? If anyone has faced similar challenges and found ways to address them, I’d love to hear it!
It sounds like you’re experiencing some really frustrating situations in your dorm, and it’s disheartening to see such a lack of respect and responsibility from some residents. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for underclassmen, especially freshmen, to struggle with adjusting to the independence of college life, and sometimes that manifests in less-than-ideal behaviors.
While not every school will have the same level of incidents, I’ve heard similar stories from friends at various universities. It can be a bit of a rite of passage for some students to navigate these new environments, but what you’re describing definitely crosses a line into concerning behavior.
From what I understand, a few strategies could help improve the situation. Organizing a positive campaign to promote cleanliness and community responsibility could make a difference. Maybe a fun floor event focused on hygiene education or a team cleanup day could foster a sense of belonging and ownership of the shared spaces.
And as for the hygiene issues and attendance at meetings, some RAs have had success with just one-on-one conversations or small group discussions to emphasize the importance of community standards. Sometimes, it helps to remind everyone that they all share the space and their actions impact others.
Hang in there! Hopefully, as they get more settled into college life, the underclassmen will start to take these responsibilities more seriously. It’s good that you’re looking for ways to address these issues rather than just venting. If you can find allies among your peers or within your RA team, you might be able to make a positive change!