Maintenance is not your motherAndreya Matthew, Staff Writer
February 9, 2012
Filed under Opinion
Every college student has an incredibly revolting horror story or two about the lack of cleanliness in the residencies or bathrooms on their campus.
For example, last Friday, someone decided to decorate the elevator buttons in Foery Hall with their saliva. As it was the end of the school week and the maintenance staff doesn’t clean the residence halls during the weekends, the buttons stayed "painted" until Monday morning.
An even better example of this comes from when I roomed in St. Mary’s last year. Nearly every floor had a huge cleanliness issue with the bathrooms and the entire building had a meeting about it. The first 30 minutes of this meeting was everyone sharing horrible stories about people leaving food in the sinks, or dirty razors with hair on them, or my favorite, people having “terrible aim” and completely missing the toilet, as if the toilet plays good offense or something!
The stories were nonstop and started to get even more scary. All were in the sole girls-only dorm on the campus, so I don’t even want to know how many stories the residents of co-ed dorms had to share or, even worse, Nelligan.
I understand that college can be gross sometimes, but I feel like Le Moyne students have 10 too many gross stories. Here I was thinking that dolphins were clean and considerate mammals! It’s hard enough living with the lack of cleanliness, but what I would hate even more is having to be the one to clean it.
Imagine waking up at 6 a.m. and your first task of the morning is to wipe some kid’s spit off of the buttons of an elevator or clean up old food out of a sink. Better yet, imagine your own mother or father having to do that. These are the messes that we leave for the maintenance staff — that’s someone else’s mom or dad! If you think about it, you are disrespecting someone else’s parent and, furthermore, a fellow human being. Why would you want to disrespect the people who are a vital part of the Le Moyne community?
For some reason, certain students completely ignore the fact that another human being has to clean up their disgusting mess. Although some people are used to having someone other than themselves cleaning up after their messes, that is not an excuse to make the maintenance staff’s job more arduous than it already is. We are adults who need to clean up after ourselves.
All we need to do is keep in mind that these are people who deserve respect, not blatant disregard for their dignity. So to those of you students who are guilty of these slobbish habits, please realize that you are disrespecting your fellow man as well as your own peers. It all comes down to mutual respect, common courtesy and being considerate of other people. Without the maintenance staff, Le Moyne would be incomplete. And ask yourself: would you want to clean up that campus?
- See more at: http://thedolphinlmc.com/opinion/2012/02/09/maintenance-is-not-your-mother/#sthash.fFxrln8Q.dpuf
Opinion:Minority faculty, staff presence off-balance
Andreya Matthew, Staff Writer
March 22, 2012
Filed under Opinion
LMC suffers disparity between minority educators, service staff
Last month, I observed a black man, dressed business casually, walking down the hall and thought to myself that he must be working with the Upward Bound program. The possibility that he was a professor didn’t cross my mind. As it turned out, that man’s name is Gary Dawkins, and he is a professor in the communication and film studies department who teaches courses about the radio and music industries.
Once I learned that he was a professor, I felt somewhat silly for not realizing that he was an educator. However, after speaking with a few other students, I found that I was not alone. I believe that one of the reasons that we wouldn’t automatically recognize Professor Dawkins as such is that Le Moyne employs very few minority instructors or faculty to begin with. I do not mean solely black individuals either. This is true for all ethnicities, including Hispanic individuals who are well represented in the language department but entirely absent elsewhere.
Although I commend Le Moyne for those few minority professors and faculty that the school does employ, the number is distressingly small and Le Moyne can hardly call itself “diverse.”
I spoke with Dawkins about his thoughts on the scarcity of minority faculty as well as his adjustment to Le Moyne.
“The school needs to commit themselves to recruiting diverse individuals to open positions in faculty,” Dawkins said.
As for his adjustment to Le Moyne, it was something that he had to get used to as he transitioned from previously teaching at Claflin University, a historically black college, to being one of the few black professors at Le Moyne. However, he claims to have acclimated to Le Moyne and even went on to say, “Folks in the communications department are very friendly.”
Fortunately, Le Moyne’s faculty is easy to get along with; however, it still does not change the fact that there are scarcely any minorities in instructional capacities. To hear the view of a non-minority faculty member in regard to this issue, I sought Dr. Ann Ryan, chair of the English Department.
“I think Le Moyne needs to aggressively pursue more minority hires for faculty and staff,” Ryan said. “We cannot simply complain that these candidates do not knock on our door. We need to seek them out and knock on theirs.”
Despite Le Moyne’s students and its very own faculty asking for a more diverse faculty, ironically, there is an immense number of minorities within the non-teaching staff.
Look at our service staff, maintenance, Sodexo employees in the cafeteria, C-Store and Den: each of these services is filled with minority employees. Why does this disparity between minority educators and service staff exist?
I spoke with a valued member of Le Moyne’s cafeteria staff, Johnnie Tolbert, and questioned how he snagged this job and explored his insight to this marginalized issue. He says he found out about the position in a newspaper and that “everybody deserves to know there’s a job offer out there for them.”
Johnnie’s right: there needs to be a greater number of minority faculty members, not only to diversify the faculty, but for a well-rounded student experience too. If there are greater numbers of minority individuals in leadership or authority roles, it will give Le Moyne’s minority students examples and inspiration for themselves. It will also inspire non-minority students to expand their general idea of who they see as leaders and deepen their understanding of what the colorful “real world” actually looks like.
The bottom line is that we need to balance out the number of minorities in our service staff with more minorities in our academic faculty. I don’t know how Human Resources or the individual departments recruit new hires and I’m not going to tell them how to do their jobs, but I will express my discontent and write that the absence of minority employees in the Le Moyne community sends the wrong message.
- See more at: http://thedolphinlmc.com/opinion/2012/03/22/opinionminority-faculty-staff-presence-off-balance/#sthash.6wAGmuwm.dpuf
Andreya Matthew, Staff Writer
March 22, 2012
Filed under Opinion
LMC suffers disparity between minority educators, service staff
Last month, I observed a black man, dressed business casually, walking down the hall and thought to myself that he must be working with the Upward Bound program. The possibility that he was a professor didn’t cross my mind. As it turned out, that man’s name is Gary Dawkins, and he is a professor in the communication and film studies department who teaches courses about the radio and music industries.
Once I learned that he was a professor, I felt somewhat silly for not realizing that he was an educator. However, after speaking with a few other students, I found that I was not alone. I believe that one of the reasons that we wouldn’t automatically recognize Professor Dawkins as such is that Le Moyne employs very few minority instructors or faculty to begin with. I do not mean solely black individuals either. This is true for all ethnicities, including Hispanic individuals who are well represented in the language department but entirely absent elsewhere.
Although I commend Le Moyne for those few minority professors and faculty that the school does employ, the number is distressingly small and Le Moyne can hardly call itself “diverse.”
I spoke with Dawkins about his thoughts on the scarcity of minority faculty as well as his adjustment to Le Moyne.
“The school needs to commit themselves to recruiting diverse individuals to open positions in faculty,” Dawkins said.
As for his adjustment to Le Moyne, it was something that he had to get used to as he transitioned from previously teaching at Claflin University, a historically black college, to being one of the few black professors at Le Moyne. However, he claims to have acclimated to Le Moyne and even went on to say, “Folks in the communications department are very friendly.”
Fortunately, Le Moyne’s faculty is easy to get along with; however, it still does not change the fact that there are scarcely any minorities in instructional capacities. To hear the view of a non-minority faculty member in regard to this issue, I sought Dr. Ann Ryan, chair of the English Department.
“I think Le Moyne needs to aggressively pursue more minority hires for faculty and staff,” Ryan said. “We cannot simply complain that these candidates do not knock on our door. We need to seek them out and knock on theirs.”
Despite Le Moyne’s students and its very own faculty asking for a more diverse faculty, ironically, there is an immense number of minorities within the non-teaching staff.
Look at our service staff, maintenance, Sodexo employees in the cafeteria, C-Store and Den: each of these services is filled with minority employees. Why does this disparity between minority educators and service staff exist?
I spoke with a valued member of Le Moyne’s cafeteria staff, Johnnie Tolbert, and questioned how he snagged this job and explored his insight to this marginalized issue. He says he found out about the position in a newspaper and that “everybody deserves to know there’s a job offer out there for them.”
Johnnie’s right: there needs to be a greater number of minority faculty members, not only to diversify the faculty, but for a well-rounded student experience too. If there are greater numbers of minority individuals in leadership or authority roles, it will give Le Moyne’s minority students examples and inspiration for themselves. It will also inspire non-minority students to expand their general idea of who they see as leaders and deepen their understanding of what the colorful “real world” actually looks like.
The bottom line is that we need to balance out the number of minorities in our service staff with more minorities in our academic faculty. I don’t know how Human Resources or the individual departments recruit new hires and I’m not going to tell them how to do their jobs, but I will express my discontent and write that the absence of minority employees in the Le Moyne community sends the wrong message.
- See more at: http://thedolphinlmc.com/opinion/2012/03/22/opinionminority-faculty-staff-presence-off-balance/#sthash.6wAGmuwm.dpuf
Airing out Le Moyne’s dirty laundry
Andreya Matthew, Staff Writer
October 20, 2011
Filed under Opinion
Over this fall break I had an interesting interaction with one of my fellow residents of Foery Hall. I had been in another room while my clothes were being washed, when I returned to check on them I saw that only six minutes remained on the washing machine. Since I refuse to stay in that creepy basement by myself, I went back to my room.
However, upon my return less than six minutes later, I caught a guy removing my clothes from the washer! When I looked over to the next machine I saw that my second load of damp clothes was just sitting there. I was shocked, offended and a little embarrassed because I had a couple of unmentionable garments in that load of laundry. Just knowing that he had touched them disturbed me.
I really had no idea of how to react in this extremely awkward situation. I sarcastically responded to the guy with, “I see you already got me started with taking out my clothes, thanks,” to which he replied, “Yeah, sorry, I hate doing this for people,” as if he was really doing me some great favor by man-handling my clothes and unmentionables. Unbelievable!
I could understand if I had left my clothes in the washer for an extra 10 or 20 minutes that he would need to remove my clothes to start on his wash, but my load hadn’t even finished yet. Therefore, he had no reason to take my clothes out so rudely. Funnily enough, this happened during the break that more than half of the residents went home over — not even on a Sunday, when everyone traditionally does laundry.
Obviously after that whole experience I definitely blamed the guy, but then as I told my friends about it we realized that the real issue is the lack of washers and dryers. In Foery Hall, there isn’t even an equal number of machines, there are eight dryers but only six washing machines, the combined 14 of which are meant to service all of the building’s 150+ residents. Once one reads that figure aloud, it sounds absolutely ridiculous. It makes one wonder how that system even works? Why there are more dryers than washers?
I see that there is a desperate need for more washing machines and dryers across all of the residence halls. When I formerly lived in St. Mary’s Hall — or as some know it, “the locked-down Virgin Mary” — which, unlike Foery, is equipped with laundry equipment on every floor, there was still too few machines and the residents would resort to fighting over them. If Le Moyne’s room and board cost over $20,000, then why aren’t there more washers and dryers in our residence halls? Why aren’t our immediate necessities being met?
This is an issue that has probably been raised before but definitely needs to be raised again to Residence Life. No one should be subjected to the awkward moment of catching someone removing a handful of their private undergarments from a machine, and no one should be subjected to handling other people’s clothes either. As paying residents, we should not have to hope and pray that there will be open amenities each time laundry day rears its head. I’d like for this issue of inadequacies in meeting students’ room and board needs to be handled by Campus Life and Leadership. Until then I will have to find a laundry buddy to keep me company while waiting for those last six minutes in the creepy basement.
- See more at: http://thedolphinlmc.com/opinion/2011/10/20/airing-out-le-moyne’s-dirty-laundry/#sthash.iPEZXLsx.dpuf
Andreya Matthew, Staff Writer
October 20, 2011
Filed under Opinion
Over this fall break I had an interesting interaction with one of my fellow residents of Foery Hall. I had been in another room while my clothes were being washed, when I returned to check on them I saw that only six minutes remained on the washing machine. Since I refuse to stay in that creepy basement by myself, I went back to my room.
However, upon my return less than six minutes later, I caught a guy removing my clothes from the washer! When I looked over to the next machine I saw that my second load of damp clothes was just sitting there. I was shocked, offended and a little embarrassed because I had a couple of unmentionable garments in that load of laundry. Just knowing that he had touched them disturbed me.
I really had no idea of how to react in this extremely awkward situation. I sarcastically responded to the guy with, “I see you already got me started with taking out my clothes, thanks,” to which he replied, “Yeah, sorry, I hate doing this for people,” as if he was really doing me some great favor by man-handling my clothes and unmentionables. Unbelievable!
I could understand if I had left my clothes in the washer for an extra 10 or 20 minutes that he would need to remove my clothes to start on his wash, but my load hadn’t even finished yet. Therefore, he had no reason to take my clothes out so rudely. Funnily enough, this happened during the break that more than half of the residents went home over — not even on a Sunday, when everyone traditionally does laundry.
Obviously after that whole experience I definitely blamed the guy, but then as I told my friends about it we realized that the real issue is the lack of washers and dryers. In Foery Hall, there isn’t even an equal number of machines, there are eight dryers but only six washing machines, the combined 14 of which are meant to service all of the building’s 150+ residents. Once one reads that figure aloud, it sounds absolutely ridiculous. It makes one wonder how that system even works? Why there are more dryers than washers?
I see that there is a desperate need for more washing machines and dryers across all of the residence halls. When I formerly lived in St. Mary’s Hall — or as some know it, “the locked-down Virgin Mary” — which, unlike Foery, is equipped with laundry equipment on every floor, there was still too few machines and the residents would resort to fighting over them. If Le Moyne’s room and board cost over $20,000, then why aren’t there more washers and dryers in our residence halls? Why aren’t our immediate necessities being met?
This is an issue that has probably been raised before but definitely needs to be raised again to Residence Life. No one should be subjected to the awkward moment of catching someone removing a handful of their private undergarments from a machine, and no one should be subjected to handling other people’s clothes either. As paying residents, we should not have to hope and pray that there will be open amenities each time laundry day rears its head. I’d like for this issue of inadequacies in meeting students’ room and board needs to be handled by Campus Life and Leadership. Until then I will have to find a laundry buddy to keep me company while waiting for those last six minutes in the creepy basement.
- See more at: http://thedolphinlmc.com/opinion/2011/10/20/airing-out-le-moyne’s-dirty-laundry/#sthash.iPEZXLsx.dpuf
Computers and printers — stat!!
Andreya Matthew, Staff Writer
October 6, 2011
Filed under Arts & Leisure
The amount of inconvenience that the absence of a computer lab in Foery Hall causes is ridiculous. For example, one weekend I needed to turn in an assignment before noon on a Sunday. Therefore, I desperately needed a computer and printer. However, since the basement of Foery — where the computer lab used to be — is being renovated, I had to run to the library instead. Unfortunately it was 10 a.m. on a Sunday so I ran to the library for nothing because it was closed. Then I attempted to use the computer lab in Dablon Hall, but my swipe access was denied. As a last resort I went through the security office to get to Nelligan’s computer lab and finally found a decent computer and printer.
Why did I have to go on a scavenger hunt only to use a computer and printer for less than 30 minutes? After that adventure I could only feel like Dora the Explorer. I could not even rely on my own residence hall to provide me with the resources that I needed.
I understand that renovations are not quick processes, but Le Moyne had the entire summer to at least get the renovations started and get midway through the process. As a matter a fact, I do not think you can call something a renovation until you have actually started renovating the area, and from what I’ve seen so far nothing has been renovated in the basement because it still looks like the set of a horror movie.
The basement is dull-looking, naked and — most importantly — without a printer. The only two things the basement is being put to good use for at the moment are laundry (thank God) and two random suites that house a few students down there.
This lack of resources and information is not okay. As residents, we don’t even know when the renovation will start or when it is projected to be finished. None of the RAs nor our RD have been able to provide solid answers. There is nothing but uncertainty and rumors floating around campus. As paying residents, we should not be subjected to this atmosphere and be forced into these flights to find basic services.
The Le Moyne College admissions department tells incoming students that printers are not required materials to purchase for our dorms, but the school fails to provide enough printers and to upkeep the few accessible ones already in place. Printing has become a serious issue on campus and working printers are a hard commodity to come by.
We have a right to the truth, to know what is going on in our residence halls. The only way that the departments in charge of these issues are going to know that we need answers is if we all speak up as a community and create one loud voice. I think we all want answers, printers and a slightly less creepy basement, Is that really too much to ask for?
- See more at: http://thedolphinlmc.com/arts-leisure/2011/10/06/computers-and-printers-—-stat/#sthash.hMqIbA74.dpuf
Andreya Matthew, Staff Writer
October 6, 2011
Filed under Arts & Leisure
The amount of inconvenience that the absence of a computer lab in Foery Hall causes is ridiculous. For example, one weekend I needed to turn in an assignment before noon on a Sunday. Therefore, I desperately needed a computer and printer. However, since the basement of Foery — where the computer lab used to be — is being renovated, I had to run to the library instead. Unfortunately it was 10 a.m. on a Sunday so I ran to the library for nothing because it was closed. Then I attempted to use the computer lab in Dablon Hall, but my swipe access was denied. As a last resort I went through the security office to get to Nelligan’s computer lab and finally found a decent computer and printer.
Why did I have to go on a scavenger hunt only to use a computer and printer for less than 30 minutes? After that adventure I could only feel like Dora the Explorer. I could not even rely on my own residence hall to provide me with the resources that I needed.
I understand that renovations are not quick processes, but Le Moyne had the entire summer to at least get the renovations started and get midway through the process. As a matter a fact, I do not think you can call something a renovation until you have actually started renovating the area, and from what I’ve seen so far nothing has been renovated in the basement because it still looks like the set of a horror movie.
The basement is dull-looking, naked and — most importantly — without a printer. The only two things the basement is being put to good use for at the moment are laundry (thank God) and two random suites that house a few students down there.
This lack of resources and information is not okay. As residents, we don’t even know when the renovation will start or when it is projected to be finished. None of the RAs nor our RD have been able to provide solid answers. There is nothing but uncertainty and rumors floating around campus. As paying residents, we should not be subjected to this atmosphere and be forced into these flights to find basic services.
The Le Moyne College admissions department tells incoming students that printers are not required materials to purchase for our dorms, but the school fails to provide enough printers and to upkeep the few accessible ones already in place. Printing has become a serious issue on campus and working printers are a hard commodity to come by.
We have a right to the truth, to know what is going on in our residence halls. The only way that the departments in charge of these issues are going to know that we need answers is if we all speak up as a community and create one loud voice. I think we all want answers, printers and a slightly less creepy basement, Is that really too much to ask for?
- See more at: http://thedolphinlmc.com/arts-leisure/2011/10/06/computers-and-printers-—-stat/#sthash.hMqIbA74.dpuf
Oh, is it Black History Month? Honestly, I forgot
Andreya Matthew, Staff Writer
February 23, 2012
Filed under Opinion
This past Friday, my close friend, sophomore Lorenda Mable, showed me a display in the library of books celebrating black history and culture. I was shocked to see the display because out of the several billion times that I have walked into the library this month, I had not previously noticed the display at all. Likewise, Mable had only noticed it a few days before she revealed it to me.
At first, I thought that perhaps I had merely been unobservant. However, I then realized that it had something to do with the fact that the display is practically hidden behind the stairs in the front of the library where it is hardly noticeable in the first place! It’s hardly even located where individuals who work in the library day in and day out can spot it. If students who work in the library don’t even notice the display, then it is not serving its purpose of celebrating Black History Month.
However, I am still grateful and extremely appreciative of the library for even having a display regarding Black History Month in the first place, which is more than can be said about the rest of the campus. Throughout this entire month, I can only think of two other campus-wide celebrations of Black History Month: the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration on Feb. 2 in the chapel and the cafeteria’s celebratory dinner on Feb. 8.
In addition, multicultural club, P.O.W.E.R. watched the movie “Red Tails,” which depicts the actions of the all-black air corps, the Tuskegee Airmen, champions of Black History Month. Three campus-wide celebrations and a sole club outing are not good enough to celebrate an entire month; it is unacceptable. There are some students who actually forgot that February is Black History Month, which I believe is largely due to the lack of proper celebration here on campus.
Black History Month is hardly alone in its under-representation. Other heritage celebrations are being poorly celebrated here on campus as well, Such as the Chinese New Year. There were scarcely any campus-wide celebrations for the Chinese New Year either. Other than the International Club having a dragon dancing performance at the winter club fair, which was very entertaining, I heard of no celebrations of the Chinese New Year at Le Moyne. We cannot depend on this meager support from clubs on largely limited budgets to do these heritage celebrations the justice that they deserve. It is inadequate.
If Black History Month received even half of the attention that Valentine’s Day received, then students across our campus would never let it slip their mind what this month was celebrating. It is seriously alarming that this holiday, which lasts a mere day, receives nonstop support. There was the Sophisticated Sweetheart dance, free transportation to said dance, the sale of candygrams, a chocopalooza, etc. — all for a day that many of us don’t care for, or end up a little bitter over.
Whether you like to admit it or not, Valentine’s Day received far more financial backing and student recognition than an entire month celebrating the groundbreaking accomplishments of black individuals. Not that Valentine’s Day isn’t important, but last time I checked, Cupid has nothing on Martin Luther King, Maya Angelou or Angela Davis — just saying.
At the end of the day, heritage celebrations need to be given more support, whether it is by having more speakers, festivals, dragon dancing or more events such as the Martin Luther King celebration — instead of only at the beginning of the month, throughout it. Happy Black History Month, everyone!
- See more at: http://thedolphinlmc.com/opinion/2012/02/23/oh-is-it-black-history-month-honestly-i-forgot/#sthash.R2J06GoQ.dpuf
Andreya Matthew, Staff Writer
February 23, 2012
Filed under Opinion
This past Friday, my close friend, sophomore Lorenda Mable, showed me a display in the library of books celebrating black history and culture. I was shocked to see the display because out of the several billion times that I have walked into the library this month, I had not previously noticed the display at all. Likewise, Mable had only noticed it a few days before she revealed it to me.
At first, I thought that perhaps I had merely been unobservant. However, I then realized that it had something to do with the fact that the display is practically hidden behind the stairs in the front of the library where it is hardly noticeable in the first place! It’s hardly even located where individuals who work in the library day in and day out can spot it. If students who work in the library don’t even notice the display, then it is not serving its purpose of celebrating Black History Month.
However, I am still grateful and extremely appreciative of the library for even having a display regarding Black History Month in the first place, which is more than can be said about the rest of the campus. Throughout this entire month, I can only think of two other campus-wide celebrations of Black History Month: the Martin Luther King Jr. celebration on Feb. 2 in the chapel and the cafeteria’s celebratory dinner on Feb. 8.
In addition, multicultural club, P.O.W.E.R. watched the movie “Red Tails,” which depicts the actions of the all-black air corps, the Tuskegee Airmen, champions of Black History Month. Three campus-wide celebrations and a sole club outing are not good enough to celebrate an entire month; it is unacceptable. There are some students who actually forgot that February is Black History Month, which I believe is largely due to the lack of proper celebration here on campus.
Black History Month is hardly alone in its under-representation. Other heritage celebrations are being poorly celebrated here on campus as well, Such as the Chinese New Year. There were scarcely any campus-wide celebrations for the Chinese New Year either. Other than the International Club having a dragon dancing performance at the winter club fair, which was very entertaining, I heard of no celebrations of the Chinese New Year at Le Moyne. We cannot depend on this meager support from clubs on largely limited budgets to do these heritage celebrations the justice that they deserve. It is inadequate.
If Black History Month received even half of the attention that Valentine’s Day received, then students across our campus would never let it slip their mind what this month was celebrating. It is seriously alarming that this holiday, which lasts a mere day, receives nonstop support. There was the Sophisticated Sweetheart dance, free transportation to said dance, the sale of candygrams, a chocopalooza, etc. — all for a day that many of us don’t care for, or end up a little bitter over.
Whether you like to admit it or not, Valentine’s Day received far more financial backing and student recognition than an entire month celebrating the groundbreaking accomplishments of black individuals. Not that Valentine’s Day isn’t important, but last time I checked, Cupid has nothing on Martin Luther King, Maya Angelou or Angela Davis — just saying.
At the end of the day, heritage celebrations need to be given more support, whether it is by having more speakers, festivals, dragon dancing or more events such as the Martin Luther King celebration — instead of only at the beginning of the month, throughout it. Happy Black History Month, everyone!
- See more at: http://thedolphinlmc.com/opinion/2012/02/23/oh-is-it-black-history-month-honestly-i-forgot/#sthash.R2J06GoQ.dpuf