The students of Augustana College are flooding to their home away from home, and the experience of communal living. Despite the school’s generous allowance of these communal spaces, there has been a chain reaction in their misuse. 

Every communal space demands respect and courtesy, but students need time to learn to treat these spaces like a home rather than a temporary residence. 

Both first-years and returning students have historically been slow to realize the steps to properly treat these communal spaces. Because of this, there are reminders that these students need to take into account.

“People fail to think about how they are using a shared space,” sophomore Faizan Pal said. “It is a learning curve, and that is what you come to college for. But it is still important to try to put yourself in others’ shoes.”

Spaces like bathrooms, commons areas, kitchens and hallways are used daily by students, but they are rarely left as clean as they should be. Sometimes the mistakes students make are inexcusable, like forgetting to flush the toilet, making loud noises late at night or even leaving out trash that could have been thrown away. 

The rush of adjusting to school is making us slip with common courtesies that we would otherwise do in our day-to-day lives. Although we are not obligated to clean for our peers, this is still something we should hold ourselves responsible for. 

The custodial staff should not have to deal with messes that could be solved with a moment’s care. If we decide to have common decency, cleaning can even be rewarding.

Just like back at home with chores, the idea of reward-based productivity is coming into effect. Although we are not necessarily making an allowance or receiving praise for cleaning, it is nice to feel comfortable and happy with the cleanliness of your space. The reward of comfort can help us learn to be consistently clean and change our habits.

“You are all going to feel accountable for your community and want to pay respect to each other,” Director of Residential Life and Assistant Dean of Students Chris Beyer said. “Your family here [are] the people who live and work on this campus, and you will see them on a day-to-day basis.”

As the year progresses and we become acquainted with our peers, we will want mutual respect and their shared contribution to our spaces. Even if we do not know them on a personal level, as we learn, we start to understand how our actions affect others. Something as simple as leaving an area free of garbage can make someone’s life much easier.

Simple but ridiculous mistakes like forgetting to flush or not respecting quiet hours are bound to go away. Even so, let’s try to make them a thing of the past as soon as possible. We deserve time to learn the way of life around campus, but we do not need a college experience to be able to use the bathroom properly again.