Tragedy of the (Mount Holyoke College) Commons

Tragedy of the (Mount Holyoke College) Commons

by Jenna, Auste, Regina, and Gabriela

The clock reads 4:32AM in glaring neon numbers. It's either late night or early morning,
depending on your interpretation.


Not that you care, really.


You've just woken up from a deep sleep to attend to the demands of your tireless bladder.
Besides, you're more worried about being able to successfully navigate the obstacle course of
your room without breaking anything or yourself.


Finally, you reach the door to your room and stumble out into the hallway, bleary-eyed and
shuffling zombie-like towards the unisex restroom.


Flicking on the lights, it takes a while for your eyes to adjust, and even longer for you to
comprehend the state of the bathroom.


The first thing you notice is the smell-as if pop-rocks, soda and beer had gone through a magical
ride through the digestive tract only to come out again the way it entered. Stalls 1 through 3 are
vomit-covered and stall 4 has an occupant.


Although technically speaking, stalls 1, 2 and 3 are usable, in reality, who'd want to? Stall 5 it is.


As you sit, thinking, eyes trained on the 'News Flush' (only 1 month out-of-date, and so well-read
you can ace an exam on it), you realize that for the rest of the weekend the entire second floor
will be using stall 5 and (potentially) stall 4.


It's an all too sobering thought.


Damn Vegas Night.

Let's face it. Although this slice of life vignette deals with the aftermath of Vegas Night, the
bathrooms and kitchenettes on campus are a classic example of the tragedy of the commons.

The tragedy of the common refers to a hypothetical situation where a commonly-held plot of
grass-covered land is used by everyone in the community for the grazing of cattle. Each member
of the community acts rationally and attempts to maximize their self-interest by putting their
cattle to pasture only on the common land. If one small parcel of land is supposed to feed a
growing population of cattle in the community, eventually the land will be barren due to the
overexploitation of the natural resource in question, grass.

In other words, the tragedy of the commons occurs because everyone only thinks of themselves
to the long-term detriment of the community.

In terms of the kitchenette and bathrooms, the tragedy of the commons happens less
noticeable on a daily basis, more noticeably on a weekly basis and most noticeably on a big
party night.

There's always 'that person' or 'those people' who has/have a digusting habit (whether it be
not cleaning up their hair from the drains, to leaving spilled milk all over the kitchenette floor to
vomiting everywhere regardless of hygiene).

So, the next time we run across a gross situation in any of the common areas, remember: it's not
a matter of gross or selfish individuals behaving in a manner that bespeaks of a scary sense of
self-entitlement, it's actually a matter of people behaving rationally.

But as much sense as this makes on a logical level, it is so much harder on an emotional one to
reconcile that the vomit in the sink is just a consequence of rational human behavior.