Editor’s Note: All opinion section content reflects the views of the individual author only and does not represent a stance taken by The Collegian or its editorial board.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live inside the movie “We Bought a Zoo?“ Well, if you’ve lived in a dorm room, you may already know. 

Living in the dorms is certainly an adjustment. It tests your independence, adaptability, cleanliness and respectfulness. Some people adjust faster than others, and some believe they can do whatever they want in their dorm. But there has to be a level of respect because you are sharing the floor with up to 50 people. At Colorado State University, this level of respect has been absent.

In dorm hallways, many people have whiteboards on their doors with questions like “cats or dogs.” This is always fun — everyone loves a good poll. But almost every day there is some slur, a drawing of a private part or other inappropriate images drawn on the whiteboards. Sure, some students may think it’s funny, but it’s also unnecessary.

“I am a first-year student here at CSU, and the dorm I live in is very noisy and active. I live in a coed hallway, and as soon as I moved in, I felt an interesting vibe. I was expecting everyone to have their door open in hopes of socializing and potentially making new friends. That simply was not the case.”

Upon arriving at Corbett G2, there were minion name tags taped to each of the doors. By the third day, every single minion was ripped off the door and were nowhere to be found. Then, someone decided to rip down a whole bulletin board and break another one, so it was left hanging halfway off the wall. Now the hallway looks sad, plain and damaged. This is really upsetting because people put in a lot of honest work creating those decorations, and now they are damaged.

In Corbett G1 and G2, an individual was removing the peepholes from the doors of other residences. This is vandalism, theft and, quite frankly, a bit alarming because it is an invasion of residents’ privacy. This also puts the facilities team to work replacing the peepholes when it could have easily been prevented. 

During welcome week, you usually meet the people who live in your hallway. A lot of times, these people’s goal is to soak up the college experience. The thing is, they sometimes do this by disregarding everyone else who lives in the hallway. I mean, we could all claim that this is just “college kids being college kids” because it is, for the most part, harmless.

Here’s when it gets destructive.

Most of the time when students are trying to fully experience college, they drink alcohol. Everyone drinks at their own rate, but in college, there is bound to be partying. With that being said, sometimes when students consume alcohol, their respect levels vanish.

Some students even take pleasure in drinking during the week, which often leads them to be very loud in the middle of the night. Students have been going around banging on people’s doors, blasting music and screaming at midnight.

Considering my own experience in the dorms, I am a first-year student here at CSU, and the dorm I live in is very noisy and active. I live in a coed hallway, and as soon as I moved in, I felt an interesting vibe. I was expecting everyone to have their door open in hopes of socializing and potentially making new friends. That simply was not the case. It has been three months, and I know the names of around six people who live in my hall.

There was this one Thursday night about a month ago, and at around 11:30 p.m., I heard a loud bang on our door. I was just about to go to bed, and my roommate was already asleep. The bang woke my roommate up, and we both went over to check the peephole. We saw four boys pounding on every single door in the hallway. I have no idea why they did this, but they probably have no idea why either.

Students need to understand that it is a privilege to live in a dorm, even if it doesn’t seem like it. The facility members put in time and effort to ensure we have a home that is safe and comfortable, and we all need to do our part as students to keep it that way. 

Reach Charlotte Seymour at letters@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.