Author: Riley Kimball
With the school year in full swing and visitations by prospective students on the rise, the Occidental admissions crew has a big problem. What beauty our campus impresses upon visitors may be overwhelmed by a new, more potent sensory menace: stink.
After a recent increase in the cost of using laundry machines, who remains inclined to wash their clothes with their former fervor? In most dorms it used to cost $.50 to wash and dry each load of laundry. Now, prices are as high as $1.25 or $1.50 per load. What once was an inexpensive chore has become a wallet-draining pain. Whereas students may have formerly worn clothes once before washing them, these same students will now surely be more conservative with their quarters. Re-wearing clothes may prove the economic recourse that this situation demands. As more and more students resort to sporting dirty duds, the odor of Oxy’s campus will undoubtedly become palpable.
Residence Life and Housing Services assured students shortly after the price raise that machines would be readjusted to their normal cost, but a week after the fact, nothing has changed. Another e-mail informed Oxy that the adjustment would occur Saturday. This notification announced that machines with card swipes cost $1.25 for a load. It also said, “there is a plan in the very near future to have all new machines in all buildings that take card swipes.” This would suggest that soon, all machines will again cost $1.25. If students are content with their old but cheap machines, do they deserve to have a price increase forced upon them?
Adding card swipes to laundry machines is only one part of the increasingly expensive cost of life at Oxy. With tuition constantly on the rise and food prices wildly unrealistic (Naked Smoothies for $4.25?), can students find further funds for as simple a task as laundry? While other colleges, like President Skotheim’s previous post, Whitman, allow students unlimited use of laundry machines for all four years, Oxy students find themselves victim to one more expense. And as long as students sit back and stomach these charges, this trend will continue.
Soon we may be paying for access to the weight room or to participate in clubs. Expenses outside of tuition continue to rise unchecked, and it is the student body’s responsibility to raise its voice. It may seem as though campus facilities monopolize students’ options, but there are alternatives.
In the event of another price increase on laundry, try patronizing one of the many laundromats in Eagle Rock. For pricier marketplace food, stop by Super A to stock up. By effectively boycotting certain expenses, the school would have no choice but to reduce prices. So the next time you slip a few extra quarters into a dryer, consider the message you’re sending to the school and explore some other options.
Riley Kimball is an Undeclared first-year. He can be reached at kimball@oxy.edu.
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