I was annoyed there for a little while.
We had open doors tonight. I put away a lotta my stuff to prepare, and enjoyed seeing people's rooms.
Near the end, there were folks running around promising pizza to be served at 9PM. So we showed up in the main lounge as instructed, and were instead greeting by the Program Advisors' Opening Program on ... Censorship.
Not that most of us in Allen aren't pretty liberal-minded and opposed to censorship, sharing similar views in the first place, but who wants heady intellectual discussion the very night before class, after a fun thing like open doors. I do better with that stuff when I'm pissed for some reason. Contentment does not seem to encourage intellectual thinking.
And what does Censorship have to do with the Allen Hall community anyway that they have to lie to people to get them to attend?
Anyways, it turns out someone screwed up, and those of us who couldn't give a hoot were told that the pizza would be here at 10.
So I came back at 10. The pizza was sitting in the RD's office, getting cold. Had been for 15 minutes, as Amy told me. I was told by one at first that only those attending the program would be served.
I explained about the misleading announcements at open doors. We had been lied to. So a crowd of us sat around in the lobby waiting for the pizza to be served, at 10:30.
And they ran out soon after the feeding frenzy began.
For the Program Advisor's opening program, they sure didn't do very well .. underestimating demand for pizza, and then having it sit for 45 minutes before being served to an irate mob.
From those who stayed for the program, Amy said she was self-censoring herself from some of the disgusting things they were showing. Others said that the discussion was thought-provoking.
I hope the PAs will learn from the experience.
Escort policy: Any non-resident (including parents, siblings, friends, faculty) must be escorted by a resident at all times.Hallmarks Handbook,
UIUC Residence Halls
(as distributed to residents, August 1997)
I had a discussion with Daniel this evening, immediately prior to open doors. I had been led to believe that the escort policy had been revised to the effect that it was now a violation for a resident of any floor to visit a resident of any other floor. Turns out this has in fact been a policy for some time. I thought we merely had gender-based escort.
Complicated complicated. I was prepared to submit a petition talking about the newly revised escort policy.
I'm not at all satisfied though. Technically, though it is not enforced, my visits to Ground South are policy violations. The policy is to look the other way at such a thing, and only bust based on gender. We can't really have gender-based escort policy as we have coed floors ... the primary concern for all this nonsense anyway is women's feelings of security and whatnot, sexual assult and everything you know.
I wish to violate escort policy at every opportunity possible. I'm too picky perhaps but I take the idea of rules being formed by those who are ruled by them seriously ... it's a fundamental precept of modern government. ... governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed ... it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it ... [organizing it] in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
Any rule, no matter how trivial it is, that is made contrary to the will of those ruled by it, is not a rule that can be upheld, ultimately.
The problem is that there are individuals who may feel insecure about having others on their floor, and Daniel would prefer not to impinge on their rights. I wouldn't want to either. I would say that any single objection should result in more stringent escort policies being imposed on a floor, and that such restriction could be imposed at any time.
I would say, we might have a more open and liberal policy, allowing by default, all residents of Allen Hall access to all floors, until there is an objection and exception which could be imposed by the RA or RD based even on a single "anonymous" request voiced by a resident on a given floor ...
The problem with floors deciding their own policies, as Daniel voiced his concern, is a problem of disseminating this information and making residents aware that differing floors have differing policies ... postings would ideally be required at all doors to inform visitors of the escort policy on a given floor. Say 4S was open and 3S was closed to unescorted non-residents.
I suppose I would volunteer to maintain such informational postings.
I think I should go ahead with these ideas. I do firmly believe at the very least that floor residents should be responsible for developing their own escort policies. It will take some work though, pushing with Hall Council, Daniel, and potentially the bigger URH edifice as well.
Are you an Allen resident willing to help? Let me know! Thanks.
I sent that little piece off to the Allen newsgroup, and emailed it to various folks. Things might take shape now.
31 August
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