On-campus housing, dining not as bad as prison accommodations

  Mary Williams Williams did once live in
a high rise triple, so don’t accuse her of not knowing what
she’s talking about at [email protected]..

Now that everyone has moved into the dorms, the objections and
complaints can no doubt be heard up and down the halls.

“This room is like a prison cell!” freshmen cry.
“Are we actually expected to live here?”

Well, go ahead and whine, but eventually everyone is just going
to have to get over it.

First of all, don’t kid yourself. Dorms are nothing like
prison cells.

According to John Kadovich, who works at Wasco State Prison,
six-foot-by-10-foot prison cells, which house two people, are the
current standard. Cells in older prisons, like San Quentin State
Prison, are even smaller. This means that prisoners are living in
60 square feet or less of space.

In contrast, dorm rooms are virtually suites at the Four
Seasons. The UCLA Housing Office says that high-rise dormitory
rooms have an average of 180 square feet, and De Neve rooms have
from 180 to 220 square feet of space. These rooms hold two or three
people.

  Illustration by ERICA PINTO/Daily Bruin Another common
prisoner comparison is between the food available in our state
penitentiaries and that served in the residential restaurants.

Now I’m not going to say that “slop on rice”
is a fabulous meal, but as any student who has attended the
mandatory all-hall meeting can attest, UCLA’s dorm food is
among the best in the country.

Even though the rooms are far from spacious and the food is far
from delicious, they are sufficient for what a college student
needs. And no matter what horrified freshmen now think, a sofa,
armchair and entertainment center are not necessary for survival at
college.

What is important is making the best of the limited available
step, not overfilling a dorm room with needless junk.

The 180 square feet of space are enough for sleeping and
studying, and if dorm residents are trying to spend more time than
that in their rooms, they aren’t making enough use of the
unlimited activities in the area.

This leads to the second important reason on-campus residents
can and should stop complaining about the size of their dorms
““ there are endless opportunities to leave them.

From activities organized by program assistants, to the numerous
clubs and organizations on campus and the restaurants and movie
theaters in Westwood Village, students looking to escape their room
shouldn’t have a hard time doing so. (Prisoners, on the other
hand, need a sharpened spoon and a year of digging to accomplish
the same task.)

The fact that dorms are so small almost forces students to
escape and explore, which will be a benefit in the end. Does anyone
really want to sit holed up in a palatial room and never see
anything other than their big screen TV?

Many of you are probably nodding “yes” to this
question, but as you do so, acknowledge that participating in the
dorm community is part of the on-campus experience, and one that
shouldn’t be missed.

Besides, someday we’ll all be old and will have to torture
the college students of 2050 with tales of how hard it was back in
our day. That’s worth putting up with a tiny room right
there.