by Andrea Traietti on February 13, 2020
Opinion
NO
by Marie Sweeney ’20
Opinion Staff
A common practice among students at Providence College is to leave their valuables around campus due to the strong amount of trust students have in one another.
However, students need to be more careful with where they place their items because there is a risk of non-student and student thieves, students mistaking others’ items for their own, and the fact that not everyone can be trusted.
The Concannon Fitness Center is a common place where people put their items at risk. Students have developed the practice of leaving valuables such as wallets, headphones, phones, and more in the cubbies, which are in plain sight.
This also occurs in the library, where students will leave their laptops on tables for hours unattended. Anyone, a student or a non-student, could take it.
Although some may argue that this is just a part of the PC culture and that we should embrace it, there are individuals that can take advantage of the unspoken trust that students have for one another. For instance, there have been many reports in certain residence halls of people stealing clothes from the laundry rooms.
Rachael Kelly ’20, a student worker at Concannon, said, “People report missing items to us all the time. Someone loses their airpods or airpod cases at least once a day.”
While this trust among students is part of the Friar culture, it is not worth it for students to put their valuables at risk. Students need to be more careful where they place their important items to avoid the risk of them being taken.
Unfortunately, not everyone can be trusted and when it comes to the more expensive and important items, it is always better to be safe than sorry.
YES
by Alyssa Cohen ’21
Opinion Staff
While it is a gamble to leave one’s valuables unattended on campus, or within any public setting for that matter, Providence College students have no reason to fear their belongings being stolen.
Considering the many anxieties that may be induced by the academic rigor and social culture of the college lifestyle, the concern of being robbed on campus need not present itself as an added stressor.
The trustworthiness of the PC community is evident in a variety of ways. Take, for example, the “lost and found” page that has naturally emerged on the PC mobile app that students constantly utilize to connect with one another to return missing belongings.
Additionally, the culture of the Concannon Fitness Center also proves the trustworthiness of the College campus.
Despite the fact that students regularly leave electronics, wallets, airpods, and other valuables unattended in the cubbies on a daily basis, Hannah Lavery ’22, a student worker at the fitness center, says, “Claims of articles being stolen are pretty rarely reported.”
Not to mention the fact that language and behaviors of skepticism and paranoia towards having one’s belongings stolen emit an air of distrust of one’s peers.
Such attitudes are detrimental to efforts to promote an inclusive and welcoming atmosphere within the PC community.
Essentially, while it is always important to use common sense when it comes to leaving valuables unattended in any public setting both on or off campus, manifesting constant anxieties of robbery is both unproductive and unnecessary, and emits toxic energy into our campus community.