Spring Blowout, my favorite day of the year, is upon us. It is a day to just lounge outside, hang out with friends, and drink wonderful beverages. Seniors at the College of William and Mary have a great tradition of going to their freshman year rooms and toasting to the four years they have had here at the College. I am a senior, and I fully plan to take part in this great tradition; however, it might be difficult for me to do this. The administration and Residence Life have been locking the doors of dorms and not allowing non-residents to entry into the dorm. This practice does not go along with the College’s idea of tradition and actually causes more damage to dorms than if they just allowed seniors to toast their old rooms.
One of the College’s main points of pride, which is always advertised to incoming students, is the sense of tradition that exists at the College. Although the idea of seniors toasting their old room is a relatively new tradition when compared to others at our school, it is a tradition nonetheless. As hard as it tries, the College can’t deny this. As everybody knows, the College is a tough school, so why not let seniors celebrate their accomplishments?
One of the reasons that our school’s administration and ResLife give for not letting seniors toast their freshman rooms is that the dorms will incur. This is not necessarily true. Yes, there will always be bad apples who destroy something, but this stems from the administration’s treatment of seniors during this tradition. Locking seniors out of dorms causes them to try to find alternate ways into the dorm and to have a different attitude once they get into their old halls. Instead of being happy about seeing where they spent their freshman year, seniors will have a vengeful attitude and feel more inclined to wreck the hall. This change in mentality is what really causes the destruction. The worst part of the damage, besides the College having to clean up after the seniors, is that the freshman halls will likely have to pay for the damage since most seniors aren’t caught.
I completely understand why the administration doesn’t want to take the risk of incurring damage in their dormitories; however, the College can’t keep the seniors from toasting their old rooms. It is a tradition whether the College accepts it or not, and it is going to happen. Therefore, the College could take some steps to help smooth the process while still making sure there is no general destruction of the dormitories. For each dorm, ResLife could provide certain times on Blowout for seniors to toast their rooms. During this time period, seniors could go to their old halls and see their old rooms, and maybe even meet the freshmen that live there. Resident Assistants could monitor the halls throughout the designated time period to make sure that the seniors do not cause any trouble. Once the time period ends, all the seniors would be made to leave, allowing for a smooth and safe process that lets the seniors toast their old rooms and keeps the administration happy.
As much as the College does not want Blowout to happen, its main objection is seniors going around toasting their rooms and causing mayhem. The College should prevent the problem and pencil in some time to allow seniors to see their old rooms. It keeps its students happy and helps the administration to ensure that the dorms aren’t destroyed.