Caitlin Doiron wants people to walk through the halls of Harrington and be able to say “hi” to everyone they pass.
She envisions a place that’s a home and a community more than just a place to live – a home where people feel comfortable with those around them.
That’s why the house president and the rest of her house committee have been busy at work coming up with ways to reshape the house’s image.
“People think it’s a lot worse than it really is. It makes me sad because I love Harrington with all my heart. I want everyone else to love it as much as I do,” the second-year student said.
“People think that it’s this awful place to live in and I just want to prove them wrong even more.”
Last week, Harrington was placed under an alcohol ban for an indefinite period of time. Residents aren’t allowed to possess or consume alcohol in the house for at least the rest of the semester.
The action, taken by dean of students Larry Batt, was in response to a number of incidents during the semester which raised concern about health and safety.
A report by Nancy O’Shea, director of student life and retention, says cleaning staff “are often dealing with potentially unsafe situations.”
The report cites broken glass in toilet bowls, “which can’t be seen and therefore poses a significant hazard,” as one example.
“The issues…are often exacerbated by the use of alcohol with Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights being the ‘party’ nights,” the report says.
The prohibition has caused a stir around campus, with students from all walks of life debating the merits and downfalls of one of St. Thomas University’s most popular and controversial residences.
After the ban was announced last week, Doiron said residents were in shock and didn’t agree with the ban.
She said she was just as surprised as the rest of the residents to hear about it.
“But after a few days, we kind of realized that maybe we can take this out and use it as a positive and turn it around and get something good out of it. A lot of people are realizing that now.”
While Doiron said the ban was an extreme move, she doesn’t think it was the wrong decision.
“Although it has attracted negative attention, it’s really brought a lot of people in the house together. We don’t want to be seen like this, so let’s do something about it.”
She said the residence has planned fundraisers and sober events, including a day full of activities during last class bash, in an attempt to show the community that Harrington isn’t just a party house.
Beaton met with the house committee and the residence advisor team at Harrington last Friday to discuss how the ban is going.
He left the meeting with a positive feeling about what the residence is trying to do to change its image.
“I’m really positive there’s some great ideas that we can do and some things put forward that will satisfy everyone involved.”
Beaton lived in Harrington for three of his four years at STU before graduating in 2006. For his third year, he was a residence advisor in Harrington.
During that time, a residence advisor was injured by a broken bottle and rushed to surgery after dealing with an intoxicated resident. It spawned a residence-wide ban on glass bottles, something Beaton said residence life is considering for the future.
When Beaton was an RA – or proctor, as it was called at the time – Dan Murphy was in his first year in Harrington.
Now a master’s student at Carleton University in Ottawa, Murphy graduated from STU in 2008 and was house president of Harrington in his third year.
He said sweeping bans like the one Harrington is under usually don’t work.
He said the house needs to deal with the people causing problems individually – and he doesn’t believe people don’t know who they are.
“When I was there, there wasn’t a thing that went on that the RAs didn’t know about, whether you can prove it or whether you can’t,” Murphy said.
In Murphy’s first year, there were about 25 people who lived in Harrington for all four years of their university career because they liked it so much. Today, Doiron estimates about 100 of the residence’s 180 students are in their first year.
“Ever since 2004, when I started, it’s been going downhill. I think that a lot of that is to do with the fact that residence life is cracking down more and more on what you can and can’t do.
“The experience that people are having isn’t as good as it was. That’s really unfortunate because that house is a good time. Some of the best years of my life were spent in that house.”
For Doiron, the solution to keeping Harrington’s strong community alive, while improving its reputation, doesn’t lie in protesting the ban. It lies in acknowledging the residence’s problems.
“I think everyone needs to acknowledge it and stop complaining and beating around the bush. They need to realize, ‘Well, maybe I don’t agree with what’s going on, but I’m going to do something about it so we can show everyone that we’re a good house to live in, we’re a fun house to live in.’”
