Letter to the editor

More restrictions on campus necessary for student safety

Dear Jessica Ritchie: Thanks so much for your informative and insightful Op-ed, “Which is Worse?”

The thesis of your piece, that PLU should not encourage potentially destructive behaviors, is spot-on. As an impressionable student, I should be able to entrust the university to steer me and my peers clear from any experiences that might harm us.

However, I don’t think you went far enough. Pacific Lutheran University condones and even encourages several other harmful behaviors on a daily basis.

I’d like to start with sex. PLU made its first wrong turn when they integrated the dormitories. Since then, even with policies restricting room access, PLU has turned into a quagmire of sexually irresponsible behavior. Additionally, sexual addiction is listed by the Illinois Institute for Addiction Recovery (the same source you used in your article) as a serious problem. Pacific Lutheran University should immediately re-segregate its dorms and issue a campus-wide ban on all sexual relations. Additionally, we should stop telling people about sex. The Vagina Monologues, praised by some as empowering to women, really just encourages sexual behavior. If people are unfamiliar with their bodies they will be less likely to use them in a harmful way.

In addition to sexual addiction, the IIAR lists several other dangerous addictions, all of which young people are particularly vulnerable to. Of course we know the major ones, but there are shocking finds that you should be happy to know about. These include food addiction, internet addiction, and compulsive shopping. PLU should be taking every possible action to protect us from these potentially dangerous behaviors as well. They could start by having us weigh-in once a week and banning food in rooms. We should also close the Garfield Commons—one of our biggest campus draws is also hurting the very students it entices. Internet access should be prohibited in dorm rooms and monitored closely in the library. Who knows how many internet addicts we are breeding behind doors with our current “unlimited use” policies? And for all of us borderline-compulsive shoppers, (I would remind you that shopping can cause as much, if not more debt than gambling), please limit the student store to only selling books and supplies. And please get rid of LuteBucks—they are the first step on a slippery slope to credit card addiction.

I hope that the university takes my suggestions seriously. We know the harms of alcohol and gambling, but there are several other hidden harms that are trapping innumerable students into lives of addiction. Which is worse? All of these behaviors are bad. The university has taken the first step in banning alcohol (you are right—it’s much better that people pass out around Parkland than on our lawns) and they should take action now to protect us from every other harm that could come our way.

Amanda Wilkins, senior