Shenanigans at Swat

[star_ash]

I randomly felt like seeing what's going on at Swarthmore these days, so I looked at the daily gazette.  This article gave me a serious WTF?!! response.  EDIT:  I just noticed that this story is from back in February.  I have not the slightest clue how I came across this while randomly poking around the Daily Gazette site not attempting to go

Comments

[crystalpyramid]

Wow. That's so totally creepy. I mean, who's to say the sleeping students were, like, clothed? Or overage? Etc. Also privacy. Being walked in on by my idiot friends was really bad enough, without being walked in on by the deans.

What should we as the alumni be doing about this?

[star_ash]

I mean, who's to say the sleeping students were, like, clothed? Or overage? Etc.

Exactly! Who's to say they're not, shall we say, in a compromising position with another student?

Regarding doing something, I just noticed the date on this article. It's back in February! I have NO idea how I came across this while randomly browsing the Daily Gazette, not trying to go through the archives, but I think the window of when it is appropriate to comment has passed.

[crystalpyramid]

Yeah - I mentioned this to ccommack, and he was all like, "but that was back in February!" So, probably. Although the alumni giving people just called me last night, so maybe that makes it appropriate again.

[candrabindu]

Yikes. Yeah, I would have been pretty freaked out and angry if I'd been woken up by random people coming into my locked room. Or if I hadn't been in the room, I would have been kind of annoyed by people going in without any advance warning. (Of course, considering how messy my room usually was in college, I doubt they'd have made it very far anyway.)

I agree that doing the check later in the day would have been better; I don't think there's any time of day when you don't run some risk of finding a college student sleeping in their room, but afternoon or evening seem like better choices. Also, according to the article, they weren't checking every room anyway, so surely they could have just gone for ones where the students were at home and awake.

[star_ash]

I agree that doing the check later in the day would have been better; I don't think there's any time of day when you don't run some risk of finding a college student sleeping in their room, but afternoon or evening seem like better choices.

Yep. No time is perfect, but 10 am seems like a really bad time when many people will be away at class and those who are around may well be sleeping or else running around trying to get ready for class, not wanting to dodge around deans with cameras taking up floorspace.

Also, I just realized that this article is from february. Whoops! I don't know how I found it, since I wasn't looking for archived stories. Still, if you were thinking of writing an angry note, it's a bit late.

[candrabindu]

Yeah, I noticed the date, and was not planning on writing any angry letters. :)

[tamias]

Thoughts that come to mind:

a) We don't know that this was the first attempt to solve the problem. Did the Deans try something else before this?

b) Mice destroy physical property, which the College is required to protect. Leaving the problem unresolved is both irresponsible and (probably) a violation of Pennsylvania health codes.

c) I remember that someone from the administration came into my ML room at least once per week, without my permission or advance warning... to clean the bathroom. There were a few times when I woke up to see someone crossing through my room; in every case, the person did what was described in the article: left my room. I certainly didn't always make my bed perfectly, with the end result that it might not have been clear whether I was sleeping in the pile of blankets.

e) Sad deal about the mouses. I've dealt with mice, and they're a giant pain.

f) Man, I miss Swat.

g) Did you notice that I missed d)?