What happened to respect and civility on our campus? I am refering to numerous events I have witnessed recently which indicate that at least some people here at Georgia Tech have totally lost respect for others and forgotten about common courtesy.
A prime example of this sad situation is the destruction of public property around campus, particularly in dorms. Take, for instance, elevator buttons which have been torn out of their mounts, pictures which have been ripped off walls, informative postings strewn about hallways, missing fire extinguishers, and exit signs which have been pulled out of the ceiling. Have these items ever caused harm to a person which might justify such violent reaction? Was I not around when all of the elevator buttons got together and started attacking people?
More examples include the theft of the Buzz tapestry, theft of the whistle, trash strewn about hallways and stairways following parties, and even littering on green spaces. I don't know a single person who likes wallowing in filth and squalor. Our dorms shouldn't be that way on Sunday mornings.
I noticed more evidence of this problem a few weeks ago in the Curran Street parking deck. Not only did someone run into another car while parking in the deck (without even leaving a note) but apparently the same thing happened out on the street. Someone's nice tail light was quickly converted to a pile of plastic shards on the ground. Sure, the spaces in the deck are cramped, but I and others with vehicles far wider than a Saturn are able to pull in without hitting other vehicles. Take an extra few seconds to make a wide turn and/or back up to get in line. Nobody likes to find that their car has been damaged.
We are all living in fairly close quarters, sharing a lot of public spaces, and often under a lot of stress. Is this why some people destroy things? Do people think they're getting shafted so much that their only course of action is to maim dorm fixtures? Is the thought process "Well, my Calc professor just gave a killer test, and housing didn't fix my air conditioner so... let's go out and break stuff! Yeah!"? Or is the problem boredom? I'd say that almost eveyone here possesses an above average amount of intelligence. Usually intelligent people get bored quite easily, so it is entirely possible that losers starved for action are resorting to vandalism. Of course, boredom doesn't explain someone running into another car and not taking responsibility. That is just a sheer and inexcusable lack of respect for others.
I for one don't like having to carry groceries up four flights of stairs because someone wanted to rip off an elevator button. I don't want a tragedy to occur in one of the dorms because a fire broke out and there were no fire extinguishers with which to put it out, or exit signs to lead the way to safety. I like having pictures and notices hanging on the walls. By breaking things in the dorms, vandalizers only hurt the residents of those dorms. Money spent repairing vandalism could be spend improving campus housing, which is something I think most people would like.
As is usually the case, there is probably only a small group of disrespectful people who are bringing us all down. I would expect this kind of immature behavior at a high school, but not at a world-renowned institute such as Georgia Tech. What's worse is that I noticed many of these things during Homecoming weekend. We should all be striving to improve our campus and present a good image of Georgia Tech, not tear it down. Students here should be proud of our campus, especially with all of the Olympic and ongoing improvements.
Please try to be a little more thoughtful of your fellow students.
