Remember when the elementary school librarian used to silence your chatty first-grade class with the signature adult catchphrase: “Inside voices!”?
Several Hillsdale students seem to have missed this rudimentary lesson — and it shows. Recently, the volume on the top floor of the Mossey Library is louder than A.J.’s on a busy night.
Heaven may be the loudest floor of the library, but it is still a library, and calls for quiet voices.
This year in particular, Heaven has been overrun by study groups and private conversations conducted in outside voices. Groups of students even watch movies and TV shows during prime homework hours in the library.
The Skittles Room, the colorful room at the back of the library, has become a particular target for outdoor voices at all hours. The room’s bright coloring contrasts with the rest of the library’s dreary scenery, but it is no longer the Skittles Room I used to know and love. Socializing is the only task that gets done in the Skittles Room these days.
“Even if the rest of Heaven is loud, the Skittles Room requires an inside voice and those freshmen seem to continually use their outside voices,” a friend told me.
Every time students settle down to write at one of the room’s four round tables or comfortably relax with a book on one of the cozy red seats, loud voices of Hillsdalians shouting across the room disrupt their focus. Noise cancelling headphones are no match for the room’s resounding commotion.
Midterm and term paper season is well underway. As the second half of the semester commences, students who are prone to rehearse lines or hold enthusiastic study groups should consider diversifying their study spots.
Next time, try A.J.s, Penny’s, a study room in Purgatory, a dorm lobby, or even outside. Everyone will thank you for making Heaven quiet again.