OCH must take action

As the community mourns the loss of Wendy Carman, the administration must commit to a plan of action in response to the tragic fire that took her life. While the Off-Campus Housing Office (OCH) publishes materials and offers guidance for students seeking off-campus housing, the circumstances of Wendy Carman's death should serve as a wakeup call. The current relationship between OCH and the students it serves is unsatisfactory. Students are not getting the information they need.

OCH needs to aggressively inform rising juniors of the safety procedures and inspections necessary for choosing and maintaining an off-campus house. The OCH website provides all the necessary information, but it requires students to seek that information out and certainly does not reach everyone. In order to guarantee that all students are receiving the guidance they need, OCH should distribute copies of their safety checklists to all sophomores living in residence halls, ideally when housing lottery numbers are released and the search for housing begins.

It goes without saying that college students are old enough to care for themselves, but most do not have experience negotiating such large scale arrangements. How many students are familiar with all of the fine points of tenant rights and landlord responsibilities? Most students living off-campus know if they have smoke alarms, but how many know if they have alarms for carbon monoxide poisoning and other safety hazards?

It is unfair to ask college students to choose and maintain safe living spaces without actively providing them with the means to do so. Nobody is asking for a babysitter, but at the same time, students don't turn 20 and magically gain all knowledge of how to live on their own.