MSU Follows the Influence of Other Schools

- By Catherine Baxter, Assistant News Editor

Residents of the Heights are not the only students who are being charged for damages around campus. At the start of the spring semester, residents of Freeman Hall were alerted that they would also be charged for damages done to the building.

Residents of Freeman Hall will be charged $7.18 to their accounts via the Residential Management System. Students are required to pay this amount by submitting a check or money order to the Cashier’s Office, located in College Hall.

The new charges to students in Freeman Hall are due to damages done to the elevators. “The only community damage recorded thus far [in Freeman Hall] is the elevator panel damage,” reported Dominic Petruzzelli, executive director of Residential Education and Services.

“Someone had kicked in the control panel, which has since been replaced. Students should expect to see the charge on their student account this week unless we identify who is responsible for the damage.”

Even though this is the first time during this academic year that Freeman residents are being charged, many disapprove of the payment they must now make.

“I don’t want to pay for [the damages],” said Alexandra Doggette, freshman resident of Freeman Hall. “I feel that the whole group should not get punished.” Another resident, Carly Rosenblatt, also feels that it is unfair to charge the entire building for something caused by a few people.

Freeman resident Claire Tsiporulcha believes that the charge is unfair because the damages are not caused by everybody. She also believes that the elevators are unreliable in the first place. “On Wednesday, Jan. 18, I was stuck in the elevator for a few seconds. After pressing the button again [I was] unstuck and it went to the seventh floor. Another time, I was on the elevator with a janitor who put a work order in for the damages and the janitor told me that no action had yet been taken.”

Even though residents in both the Heights and now Freeman Hall feel that being charged for damages in common areas is unnecessary and unfair, Montclair is not the only college who take such measures.

At Rider University, Mary Chimera of Residence Life reports that they hold a similar standard to Montclair. Residents at Rider are billed for damages to common areas and these charges are split within the entire building. Any dorm room damage is specifically applied to the residents within that dorm.

Similarly, at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Karen Quackenbush of Residence Life reports that the students are charged for common area damages. Also, students are required to fill out a form on move-in day, stating any damages that are already noticeable in the rooms. If any more damages are found at the end of the semester that were not previously recorded, students will then be charged to their accounts. This is a system also used within the residence halls at Montclair.

Even though many students are protesting these charges, a similar system is used throughout many different college campuses.

Although Freeman residents have not been charged until this instance, many residents believe that the elevator is undependable when it comes to getting them to the proper floor. Most residents on the first through third floors rarely use the elevator, an example of how charging every resident for things they may not even use could be construed as unfair. Students question whether charging students is the most effective way to stop the damages from occurring. The problem of whether residents should be charged will always be an issue if students continue to cause damages in their buildings.