©2009 NCSU Student Media
When a resident advisor discovered vandalism in the second floor men’s bathroom of Becton Residence Hall on Feb. 27, and no one took responsibility for the actions, all residents of Becton Hall were charged for the damages.
In response to the charges, residents of Becton Hall gathered in the Honors Village Commons building Sunday to get further information regarding the February vandalism that has led to resistance from residents of the community.
Brandon Moore, a junior in chemical engineering and Quad resident, said the forum was informative, but said it also brought about more issues.
“We definitely got some of our questions answered,” Moore said. “But it kind of brought about more questions than it answered.”
Among the information discussed at the forum was the existence of a previous incident involving damage to a Becton bathroom last year when residents were told half of the hall using the bathroom would be charged for the replacement.
“We were informed that the sink was supposed to be replaced, and it was,” Moore said. “But also that no one was charged for it.”
Jordan Luzader, the community director of the Quad, said after finding the vandalism , facilities and the housing staff followed protocol to evaluate the damages. Because it was less expensive, the staff attempted to repair the damages, but the efforts were deemed unsuccessful. Facilities workers decided the bathroom stall would need to be replaced leading to each resident of Becton Hall having a total charge of $4.88 added to his or her student account.
Although not a huge charge, the students who attended the community meeting Sunday evening said fighting the charges was more about the principle of the matter than the actual cost.
“This is an object that could have been repaired for under 10 dollars,” Moore said. “And housing goes out and spends over a thousand – those are decisions we have to question.”
Luzader explained the appeals process to the students and even mentioned a group appeal option offered specifically for the situation dealing with the Quad. Moore said the policies were online, but appreciated the personal explanations.
“Obviously it’s something students could look up themselves,” Moore said. “But it’s nice for the administrators to come out and tell us we have these avenues.”
Luzader stressed the importance of acting quickly to assure the appeals
process could begin.
“I encourage you to appeal
your charge — you feel it is unjust,
and if you are choosing
to appeal, do so in a timely
manner.” Luzader said.
Luzader said the residents
were charged because they
failed to take action and find
who committed the vandalism.
“Because you as a collective
chose to be passive, you are
being charged, but if a responsible
party is found, I would
be more then happy to credit
all of your accounts,” Luzader
said during the forum. “What
it comes down to is students
need to ensure they are taking
responsibility for their community.”
Luzader also said the incident
should serve as a reminder
to residents about
what
“Generally and specifically
this is a sobering experience
for the community,” Luzader
said. “It has been challenging
and it has presented its struggles,
but in the end students
need to be aware of the people
in the community.”
Throughout the meeting,
Luzader challenged the residents
of the Quad to commit
to not letting a similar incident
happen again in an effort to
protect the University, but Moore
said he was mostly concerned at
how the decision-making process
appeared to be devoid of any
student input, and wanted to assure
that future incidents would
be handled differently.
“You really need to get information
from the people affected
before a decision is made,”
Moore said. “We want to know
if they’re going to change that
for the future.”
Lisa LaBarbera, the associate
director of East Campus, said
residents should not allow the
incident to fragment the community.
“This is an amazing community
that has so much to offer,”
LaBarbera said. “The students
here cannot let one action affect
the impact this community
makes on the campus.”
Moore said the residents don’t
blame any one person or department
for the decision to charge
the community for the damage,
but added that the main issue
was the lack of student input in
the deliberations.
“Nobody is solely responsible
because it was a collaborative effort,”
Moore said. “It wasn’t just
Jordan or Lisa or Facilities, but
most importantly it was not the
students making the decision.”
News editor Ty Johnson
contributed to this report.