Last week male residents of Village I received an email from Bray Village Coordinator and Virginia Wesleyan alumna Rachel Lambert reading as follows:
“Due to recent events yesterday evening, charges will begin being placed on accounts. Common areas are held on community responsibility. Additionally, physical plant has been instructed to reduce the amount of toilet paper going into the bathroom. Further incidents will be addressed as they occur.”
Lambert refused to comment on the matter.
A confidential source said that among the damages referred to in Lambert’s email, toilet paper being wetted and thrown onto bathroom walls was one. This is the reasoning behind limiting the access of residents to toilet paper.
Charges will begin being placed on accounts…Additionally, physical plant has been instructed to reduce the amount of toilet paper going into the bathroom.
According to Gabrielle Freese, an RA in Village I, incidents of vandalism are concentrated in two male dorms. Problems with vandalism have been ongoing since August, Freese said.
Besides wet toilet paper thrown onto walls, other forms of vandalism have included torn bulletin boards, trash cans set outside RA rooms so they would be knocked over as RAs open their doors, plastic-wrapped toilets and rotten bananas smeared across walls, floors and ceilings. Freese described such acts of vandalism as “stuff that’s very avoidable if you’re being responsible and caring for the place that you’re living in.”
Among measures taken to prevent further vandalism, Dean of Freshman Jason Seward has spoken with those who reside in the vandalized halls. Furthermore, RAs have conducted hall meetings.
“I think that some vandalism is to be expected because apparently people think that it’s funny to destroy stuff that’s not theirs. But you would hope they would have realized sooner versus later that it’s really not responsible… It’s really disappointing to see the issue still arise even into the second semester,” Freese said.
Thus far, no one has claimed responsibility for the vandalism. Therefore, Residence Life has decided to start charging the accounts of residents in vandalized halls equally.
Ashley Kline
aakline@vwc.edu