Carleton has instituted a new policy that allows students to send a text message to library staff to complain about noisy students. While the need for this policy speaks volumes about the average Carleton student’s inability to understand the socially accepted practice of being quiet in a library, it does allow the option of bringing in the walkie-talkie-toting cavalry to stop the guy three study carols away from blaring Sean Paul on crappy laptop speakers.
As it stood previously, students would have to pack up their books and go to the front desk on the second floor to file a complaint. This is a great example of Carleton using technology to streamline and accommodate students’ needs.
While some might say we should take it upon ourselves to tell others to keep quiet, it isn’t our job to point out the numerous signs already forbidding cell phone use and noise altogether in certain areas. It also allows for a campus employee in a position of authority to come and either issue a warning or, in extreme cases, a fine.
There are concerns about the potential for abuse of the system, either by uptight students who pop blood vessels at the sound of buzzing fluorescent lights using it to tattle on those with a bad cough, or those inclined to use it to screw with their friends. Not to mention the irony of using a cell phone to report others that are causing a disturbance by using a cell phone.
Carleton is trying to preserve the sanctity of the library for those students who have the expectation that it is a quiet place on campus to study. Perhaps if we all recognized this, there wouldn’t be the need for an elaborate system of electronic snitching.
Just be sure to have your cell on silent when you receive the inevitable, “on r way, where r u?”