By: Savanny Savath, Staff writer

The light turns green, but the doors remain locked. The light turns back to red. The ID card passes over the card reader again, but the front entrance of Greene is not a go for green.

On Sept. 21, Greene hall residents received an email from Brian Lemere, assistant dean of students and director of residence life.

“You are receiving this email in regards to the damage done to the front door at the main entrance of Greene Hall. Greene Hall was just renovated this summer and our office was disappointed to learn someone had forced open the main front door to the point it destroyed the key card system,” said Lemere.

While the reason and the person(s) behind the damage are still unknown and merely speculation, the damage itself is clear.

“The door was apparently either pulled on very hard or kicked open. It was securely locked when it was found by deactivating the side that was broken and re-securing the lock mechanism. One side still worked as normal. The plate that has the electrical locking mechanism was torn out of the center mullion. The screws holding the hardware to the mullion were not the type installed on the rest of the doors as it was brand new as part of the renovation. The situation was rectified quickly and professionally,” says Randy Hall, director of Campus Safety.

In the email, Lemere also reminded students of the college’s policy on community damage. According to the “Student Handbook,” which can be found on the college’s website, if no one takes responsibility for any damages within a communal space (e.g., hallway, lobby and bathroom), then the repair cost is divided equally among all residents of the hallway or building. However, residents feel that the shared billing is unfair.

“Everyone I’ve talked to in Greene has been pretty upset by the fact that they have to pay even though they didn’t break it. I haven’t really talked to the staff about it. I am not happy that I have to pay. I don’t understand why they can’t use the cameras in the hall to figure out who broke the door. It will be pretty obvious,” says freshman Cady Barthe.

“When I heard about the damages, I was upset because I did not want to pay for the damages ‘out of pocket.’ Other residents were upset like me,” says freshman Brianna Ashford-Carroll.

“We have been kept pretty much in the dark of the whole situation. Although, I do have some food for thought, especially for those in charge of the dorms and handling damage. If you send out an email that says, ‘If the guilty person does not come forward, we will divide the charges between the residents of the hall,’ why would anyone ever come forward if they knew they would face the consequences alone instead of paying a much smaller sum? I guess those in charge do not care about justice as long as they get their money back,” says freshman Griffin Kimbrell.