Dear Editor,

Barely a week back and it seems that everything is going smoothly. The classes starting, the buses are rolling, and we even get crepes this year. Yet, as it is every year there are always bugs in the system: not literal bugs, but behaviors that do not positively add to the campus atmosphere. Now if these behaviors were all from freshmen then it would be easier to understand, but apparently some upperclassmen need reminding as well. So just for a couple of minutes I am going to be everyone’s mother (no laundry please) and remind you of your manners.

1. Smokers, 25 feet from buildings is a pretty self-explanatory rule. As much as you love to kill your alveoli, many other people are quite partial to their own. Also consider the fact that when you are walking across the little Mac Bridge or by the commons that everyone behind you receives your smoke. If you don’t understand this concept, drive behind a large diesel vehicle for several miles and tell me if you enjoy it. Now I, myself smoke a pipe from time to time, so I am sympathetic, but we still have to obey the rules.

2. Complainers, I don’t know what possesses you to think that whining about Fresh momentarily running out of pizza or the speed of the Zoca line will help anything. Understand that the people preparing your food are doing you a great service and generally working at full efficiency so get off their backs. Even if things aren’t efficient, chances are that letting everyone around you know your distain won’t make things go faster.

3. Antsy students, understand that your professor is a person, too, and that it is possible that they can be late. When you make the trek from Mackinac Hall to Honors, with students asking you question all in the course of 10 minutes, then you can talk. Until then, act like an adult and sit in the class that you paid for; 15 minutes is generally the common courtesy for professors (and they have earned it!) and chances are that if they are later than that, then class probably won’t be happening that day anyway.

4. If you have not already found out, printing on campus can turn into a clusterf- (Oh, I can’t say that in writing) in the 10 minutes before class starts. That being said, around that time don’t be “that student” who prints the Encyclopedia Britannica unabridged version or 50 pages of Power Point with one slide per page. Rationalize that, while printing is free, it needs to be accessible to everyone. Also consider that paper comes from trees and on such a sustainable campus being the person that wastes time and sheets is not cool.

5.Finally, longboarders. Today I was having a wonderful conversation with a peer of mine on a fairly crowded little Mac Bridge. There was little room to walk, yet a longboarder decided to shoot between (yes between) my peer and myself. First: Pedestrians have the right way, always; end of story. Second: When I walk, I don’t like to be used as a traffic cone that you can weave in and out of while coming precariously close to as many other pedestrians as possible. If you can’t control that board then get off and walk, or else don’t be surprised when you encounter a well placed, but apparently coincidental elbow. I don’t care that you ride those boards, but understand that pedestrians are people, not obstacles.

Yours truly,

K. M. SWIFT
GVSU SENIOR
BIOMEDICAL SCIENCE MAJOR