The recent decision by the College to scour the scoial quads for flammable couches and issue warnings for those without tags comes as an unpleasant surprise. We don’t fault the College in its effort to enforce fire safety, but the fact that they failed to inform us about their intentions is simply inconsiderate and potentially adds additional stress to students already occupied by start-of-the-school-year responsibilities.
Many students paid a considerable amount for their couches and got them non-refundable, unawares of the fact that Physical Plant would be invading their suites and rooms to make sure their couch has an arbitrary tag indicating that it doesn’t present a fire safety hazard. If students had received an e-mail or a notice over the summer informing them of the couch requirements and the College’s imminent enforcement of those requirements, this entire conflict could have been avoided.
If that wasn’t bad enough, after issuing a first warning, Physical Plant has the authority to take away a flammable couch that hasn’t been removed and charge the offender for the costs of confiscation. So, in addition to the money lost from the cost of paying for the now worthless couch, we now also have to pay for the College to take it away.
Even now, the College is failing to fully inform us about this situation. Though Resident Counselors (RCs) have been informed and, in turn, informed their residents, it would have been nice if the College notified us directly of the essential details of the couch policy. Furthermore, even the RC’s seemed to be unsure about the exact rules and regulations regarding the tags and their meanings.
Even if RCs where fully aware of the specific requirements, the dorm meetings, where most of us first heard of these new rules, were all too late since most students bought their couches way in advance of those meetings.
We understand that the town of Amherst mandates that our couches are not flammable, but we maintian that the administration should have been obligated to give us proper forewarning so that we could have taken proper preventive measures in selecting couches. This inconvenience impacts students on a greater scale because of its financial impact.
We recognize the need to prevent fire hazards, but at the same time, the College has a responsibility to look out for the financial needs of its students and give them ample time to adjust to new policy. It is ridiculous that they can charge us for failing to follow through on a regulation that we had no prior knowledge of.
There have been instances of students who bought couches from previous students, assuming that they would be up to current standards, only to find that their newly bought couches no longer met the standard. Forced to give up the couches, students wasted the money spent on that same couch.
We laud the effort of the College to prevent an invasion of privacy by Amherst Town and ensure our safety, but by failing to effectively communicate furniture regulations, they have undermined their initially sound intentions. A look at the College handbook leaves students with the impression that they are abiding by college regulations. The College’s new couch policy is like changing the rules in the middle of the game.