Student groups cannot reserve the Letts Sky Lounge anymore, after it sustained nearly $5,000 worth of damage last semester, according to Housing and Dining Programs officials.
With the exception of internal hall organizations like the Letts Hall Council or University College groups housed in the building, other student groups must use alternate spaces such as the Letts or Leonard Formal Lounges, according to Paul Brown, assistant director of Learning Communities and Assessment.
This shouldn’t have a large effect on student groups, Brown said, because few groups used the space previously.
Sixth floor Letts Hall residents will only have to pay $7 to $8 each for the damage, Brown said. Letts 6 residents were originally going to be charged about $50 toward damaged carpet and furniture, according to Jennifer Baron, the resident director of Letts, Clark and Roper Halls. RAs discovered the damage Dec. 15 when they were checking the building before closing it for winter break.
While any student group could meet in the Sky Lounge if they reserve the space beforehand, Letts 6 residents said those groups often moved into the floor lounges as well.
But organizations couldn’t reserve the space during finals time, when the incident occurred, Baron said.
Following students’ protests that a $50 fine per Letts 6 resident was unfair, Housing and Dining lowered the amount each resident will have to pay by calculating what the cost would be for Letts 6 residents if the damage fine had been spread throughout all Letts Hall residents.
“A solution we came up with was to instead of charging you the $50 for this, the other option is to charge the whole hall, which we thought that might be unfair to the other people on the other floors who might ask ‘Why are we paying for it when it’s on the sixth floor?’” Brown said.
The remainder of the damages will be covered by leftover money in the Housing and Dining’s budget, he said.
Brown and Student Government Senator-at-Large Joe Wisniewski said they weighed the positive and negative aspects of vandalism policies that other schools use, including adding a fee at the beginning of the academic year to cover vandalism.
One student raised the concern that paying for vandalism up front might encourage students to vandalize property in the dorms later on.
“[Adding a preemptive vandalism fee] raises your housing rates by a few hundred dollars,” Brown said. “[The current] system, at least we only charge for what actually happens, so you probably end up paying less.”
Brown said Housing and Dining is open to feedback about vandalism fees and students should e-mail housinganddiningprograms@american.edu.
lgiangreco@theeagleonline.com
