Guest Privileges Restored After Temporary Suspension
Incidents of the smelly kind have been plaguing Pinewood Residence Hall in recent weeks. Someone has been depositing fecal matter and urine in random crevices in the building, causing dismay for its residents. These incidents also have led to the discontinuance of visitor privileges among Pinewood residents.
Corey Inzana, Area Coordinator for Pinewood Hall and Willow Hall, said that these incidents began last fall. The incidents temporarily stopped after a few floor meetings were held about them.
“The amount of incidents that occurred with either urine or feces amounted to five times over the course of the two semesters,” Inzana said. “Three of the five instances took place in the first floor men’s bathroom, one urine issue occurred in the first floor hallway and the most recent fecal incident occurred in the second floor lounge.”
Some students found out about the incidents through social media. “I was scrolling through Twitter when I saw that someone from my building tweeted what had happened,” said Rachel Gramuglia, a first-year resident of Pinewood. “So then I tweeted about it and called one of my friends and she told me everything that happened. I was like, ‘Why would someone ever do that? Just use a toilet.’ I was furious that someone would do that. It’s revolting. There is a fine line between a funny prank and a drunkenly disgusting [and] idiotic decision.”
Jessica Costello, also a resident of Pinewood, echoed the same reaction. “I thought the whole incident was ridiculous,” she said. “It is sad to see that, at 18 and 19, people are still so immature to use the showers as a bathroom and leave bags of pee in the lounge. The thing that disgusts me the most is that someone did this in an area that everyone uses.”
As a repercussion of the recent incidents, visitor privileges in Pinewood were temporarily suspended. “There are some students that are angry about losing these privileges, but discussions I have had are revealing that students are more upset that someone behaved in such a manner that affected the rest of the Pinewood community,” Inzana said. “When I was investigating these incidents and was talking with students, the most common responses we received were, ‘That’s disgusting; it couldn’t have been someone who lives here who would do that.’”
Some students said that it is unfair that the entire building is being punished for one individual’s actions. “Not being able to have visitors was a little extreme, I thought. The whole building should not have been punished,” Costello said.
Meanwhile, Gramuglia said that it is understandable that this precaution is necessary. “I understand that everyone had to be punished, considering we had no idea who it was,” she commented.
As a result of the help that was received and the input of Pinewood’s resident assistants, Inzana said that these guest restrictions can now be lifted.
“The students are handling it fairly well,” Inzana said. “They are not happy with the idea that someone would partake in an unhealthy act such as defecating in the lounge or showers, because this is their home. There have been many students who have attempted to help in resolving this issue. For example, some students have been very proactive in the Pinewood Community by going door-to-door to discuss and gather as much information as they can from their fellow residents regarding these issues.”
“The precautions that are being taken revolve around education and communication,” Inzana added. “These precautions include, but are not limited to, hall meetings and door-to-door discussions by RAs discussing living in a healthy environment and why it’s important to always know where and what guests of the building are doing.”
While the culprit behind these incidents has yet to be identified, Inzana said that he is hopeful that they will soon cease. In the meantime, his focus is on providing for the health of Pinewood’s residents and guests.
