"The purpose of this letter is to inform Stone residents of the extraordinary amount of accumulated dorm damage and to express our concern," wrote Boykin-East and Carter.
Between Sept. 3 and Oct. 23, the Amherst Fire Department responded to six false alarms at Stone, at a combined cost of $600. Repeated possessions of illegal kegs and incidents oftampering with smoke detectors have led to fines totaling $1600. Five broken windows have cost residents an additional $903.54.
"The letter was an advisement," said Carter, though he also pointed out that students responsible for dorm damage, "knew what they were doing was wrong."
Boykin-East and Carter suggested in the letter that students obtain licenses for kegs, provide more supervision at parties and avoid smoking near smoke detectors.
"Please be aware that the increasing problem of dorm damage, party clean-up, safety violations and general disrespect in the dorm has not only had a negative effect on dorm residents, but it has had a detrimental impact on some of the staff who work in the building," they wrote.
The letter sent to the dorm residents did not only address property damage, it also dealt with safety violations. It reminded students that every time firefighters are dispatched to a false alarm, their presence could be required at a real fire.
In the letter, the two also expressed concern over vandalism directed towards the Little Red School House, a pre-school located in front of Stone. This semester, urine residues have been left on the building and windows have been broken.
"While behavior like this has occurred intermittently in previous years, members of the Little Red School House community state that this year has been especially severe," wrote Boykin-East and Carter.
Boykin-East and Carter's letter did not blame all Stone residents for the damage.
"We ask those of you who may be engaged in these activities to refrain," they wrote. "It is readily apparent that the actions of a few have caused a significant disturbance."
Stone Resident Counselor (RC) Mara Tshibaka '02 is hopeful that Boykin-East and Carter's letter will have an influence on her residents.
"Hopefully, this letter will make people realize what's going on," she said. "It's a lot of money. Granted it [has] been spread out, but it does accumulate. There might be people in this dorm who financially cannot afford this."
Financial Aid and Class Equality (FACE) Co-Chair Marisol Thomer '02 questioned the administration's dorm damage policy, which punishes individual students when blame can be assigned, and an entire dorm when blame cannot be assigned.
"Dorm damage is a difficult thing to combat. How effective charging people fees is [is] very questionable. It penalizes people who have to pay and can't afford it," Thomer said. "It makes it difficult to make sure that people not responsible ... are [not] bearing the brunt of the financial damage unfairly. The last thing you need when you're paying to go to Amherst is to pay for something you're not responsible for."
Stone's other RC, John Frechette '02 said that whenever possible people responsible for dorm damage and safety violations have been fined. "We've made a concerted effort to bill people who have caused the damage, whether they live in the dorm or not," he said.
Thomer stressed the difficulty administrators face in revising their system. "The challenge to the administration is finding a way to prevent [dorm damage] and to find a fairer [system] ... than the current system of dealing out the financial responsibilities of paying out dorm damage."
Tshibaka attributed the amount of dorm damage to both Stone residents and people who come to their parties.
"A lot of the people in Stone are naturally party people. Friends will come over, and if it's not your dorm it's easier to trash it," she said. "A lot of these people are out of control."
Tshibaka said that as an RC she does not feel responsible for the actions of her residents and their guests. "RC responsibility in the dorm is not necessarily a disciplinary responsibility. We are here to give advice and to be there for people, that's why we're resident counselors," she said. "We don't need RCs to be mommy and daddy."
Tshibaka said that she anticipates that dorm damage in Stone will decrease "now that football season is over." However, she said, the administration can curtail future damage by taking a strong stance towards offenders.
Frechette said that he spoke with Boykin-East and plans on meeting individually with room groups to discuss the damage and safety violations.
In their letter, Boykin-East and Carter asked students to be more pro- active in preventing vandalism. "We seek your assistance in eliminating further problems," they wrote.