I have this annoying habit. Whenever I have to write a paper, I need to drink massive amounts of water as a way of procrastinating. The downside, however, is that the water builds up, and has to come out somehow. So there I was in the CIT, four Nalgenes and three pages into my essay, when my bladder informed me of its limits. Crossing and uncrossing my legs, I quickly saved my essay and locked down my terminal. Then, clutching my crotch and hobbling to the bathroom, all thoughts of my paper fled from my mind as the pain of a bursting bladder consumed me. I clutched the door and yanked it open, stepping hurriedly into the CIT's first floor bathroom. Halfway through, in cartoon banana peel fashion, my feet slipped out from under me and I landed jarringly on the tiled floor. Coming out of my concussive daze, I blearily looked around, only to discover that my floor-mate was a recently delivered mound of excrement. And not one of those cute ones, like Mr. Hanky the Christmas Poo, but rather a large, steaming product of gastro-intestinal chaos.
As much as the above anecdote probably made you want to hurl, such examples of strewn excretions are far from atypical at Brown. Brown students sh*t and run. Whether it be outside a Keeney bathroom or on the floor of Josiah's, vomit and its cousin reign supreme on Sunday morning. In a school that prides itself on its commitment to community, its mature student body and its stand-up-for-the-people attitude, does this seem a little self-absorbed to anyone else?
In truth, these acts of what amounts to vandalism have the most impact on the support structures that enable Brown, as a community, to operate. Brown students disrespect, almost everyday, the network of Brown employees, from Facilities Maintenance workers to Ratty cashiers. The people of these networks spend their day engaged in vital functions that enable Brown students to fulfill their goals, in education or on the field. If Brown students had to clean their own bathrooms, cook their own food, vacuum their hallways, mow their lawns and wash their dishes, how much time would be left for us to learn, to compete, to discuss, to live the lives of college students?
Yet too many of us too often - in our self-absorption - take for granted both those who support us and the basic tenets of a community. In our use of the word community, we don't mean to sound trite like your high school guidance counselor. Rather, we would like to highlight how little it would take to reinforce our school's reputation as a socially-responsible Ivy League institution. We understand the pressures involved in attending and participating in Brown, and how difficult these pressures make it to think of others. But what kinds of adults would Brown be producing if its graduates were unprepared to recognize some of life's most basic responsibilities?
So let's become adults; let's build a community. Next time you're in the dining hall, take some time to say hello to Gail, Fatima and especially Jose with his games of flip-card; ask Luis in Olney how his day was or Carlotta in Machado, and take the time to meet the members of your hall. And then next time you're about to take ten shots of Bacardi 151 or play a rousing game of Edward Forty Hands during a night culminating in washing down the walls of a bathroom stall or a hallway in vomit, belligerently breaking exit signs and toilet-paper dispensers, writing on the walls in dry-erase marker or peeing on your neighbor's door, take the time to consider the impact of your actions on people like Luis and Carlotta.
Students at Brown are involved in organizations designed to benefit the wider world, such as Habitat for Humanity, Key Club, Brown Democrats and environmental efforts to save the rare flesh-eating pot-bellied tiger shrimp. Perhaps with just a little redirection of this focus, we could improve living conditions for our fellow community members, appreciate our support structure for what it does and live up to Brown's reputation as an ethically upstanding University-College.
Bethany Gerstein '07 and Daniel Greenberg '07 think that "poop and run" just doesn't get the message across.
