Fines for Flather Hall Damages Reach Almost $2,000, Students Must Pay Fees
By John Connolly
Just halfway through the academic year, students in Flather Hall are facing serious fines as a result of vandalism and damages that have occurred in the five story freshmen dorm since August.
As of December 1, 2015, the total fine accumulated in the all-male dorm was listed as $1,889.36, with $383.90 accumulated in November alone. Divided among all of the residents of Flather Hall, each student currently owes $11.81.
Several flyers posted in the building list the total cost accumulation, resident division, and a message that states “Please have respect for the building—tell us about any damage you see being done to your home so that you don’t have to end up paying for their mistakes.”
The damages in Flather vary drastically. Several bulletin boards have been knocked down from the wall and broken apart, with debris scattered throughout the hallways. After soda was spilled in the elevator, its floor tiles needed to be replaced because they were pulled up from sticking to passenger’s shoes.
Many students are tired of the mistreatment of the building and the accumulating fines.
Freshmen resident and Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) commissioner Isaiah Burroughs said, “I believe we should treat our home away from home, just as we would our primary home. I believe this negligence and immaturity is an embarrassment to those who left a legacy here at CUA before us.”
Another student expressed his dismay at the response of students and that the fine policy is unfair.
“The damages in Flather are completely disappointing, considering that people have no regard for other people’s property,” he explained. “I think that the damages that occur should not be spread out to everyone in the building, but instead distributed to those who caused said damages, since it is unfair to charge everyone for the deeds and destruction of one. I think to help rectify this situation would be more vigilance by the RAs and RA on call.”
Tim Segert, director of North Neighborhood Two, in which Flather Hall is located, reiterated the policies set forth by the housing office.
The policy states “Community members share responsibility for ensuring that common areas are properly utilized.
Students are expected to take responsibility for their actions and appropriately confront others when they have caused damage in a common area.”
The policy also states how the cost will be handled come the end of the semester. “As members of the community, each resident is obligated to report to the residence hall staff any destruction he/she witnesses or in which he/she is involved. All costs for damages occurring on the floor or building will be shared equally by all residents of that floor or building when individual(s) causing the damage cannot be precisely determined by the university.”
Segert was unable to determine if the damages at this point in the year exceeded the damages in previous years or in other residence halls.
In 1992 the damages certainly exceeded what you guts are talking about. We had a “silent” keg pre-party on a Thursday night, and someone thought it would be a good idea to put a few turkeys on the grill. we should use it successfully for weeks cooking mostly burgers and hotdogs .
We had set up a system to vent the smoke through the fifth floor and out the top of the building . The idiots did not think through what would happen if the turkeys caught on fire with all of fat. Well, that’s exactly what happened in the smoke overwhelmed the venting system.
It was about 20 K in damages
Perhaps a downside to having all-male dorms? All that testosterone bottled up in one very rectangular concrete box.
It would be interesting to compare year to year statistics on common damages including the years when Mary Flather Hall was graced by ladies as well as “Gentlemen.”