Harassment leaves some students feeling unsafe

It’s construction time in Village III. How exciting! But if you happen to be a female, this may not be the case. Every morning, anyone living in proximity of the construction awakes to the loud clanking of metal and noise of construction equipment. The noise is a part of daily life if you’re a resident. In fact, it is strange on Saturday morning when the noise has ceased and the only thing to disturb your sleep is the occasional person passing by outside your door.

The construction is understandable because, come December, there will have been a purpose to all of the chaos outside. The problem is, once you leave the dorm the noise goes from understandable to inappropriate. You may be wondering what I am talking about if you are not a female. So I’ll try to clear it up for the male readers.

Imagine it is early in the morning and you are getting ready to walk to your first class. You step outside and begin walking swiftly to make it on time, and out of nowhere you hear a man yell, "Hey baby, where are you headed to?"

Construction workers have the reputation for not saying the most appropriate things to people of the opposite sex. Lately, a few men working on the construction of Village III have confirmed this to my female colleagues and me.

Senior Uli Nagengast said, "They've whistled, made disgusting comments about me and my friends when we walk by. It makes me feel like a piece of meat instead of a person."

The last thing I want to hear early in the morning or on my way back to my room after a long day of classes is someone yelling across a fence. I think the most irritating part of the situation is where it is occurring. No female enjoys being yelled or stared at by a stranger, but especially not if the stranger is outside her home.

Sophomore Amanda Luttrell said, "They whistle, and I think it is disgusting. This is where we live. Leave us alone."

While we are all away from our homes and experiencing college, the dorms become our temporary homes for the school year. It’s where we shower, eat, study and do all our daily activities. The fact that the dorm becomes your home makes it feel like an invasion when it becomes uncomfortable to walk outside in fear that someone may make you feel awkward.

Safety is another issue the construction workers raise. The workers see when we go to school, and when we come back, and they then know our schedules. This is scary.

When I first arrived at school for fall semester, I walked into my room, and to my surprise, my window was open and there was a cord plugged into my outlet running outside. The first thought that crossed my mind was, how were they able to plug the cord in? If it was because the workers were allowed access inside, I’d like to know why they were allowed into our dorms. Instead of asking questions, I unplugged the cord and proceeded to throw it out the window as they stood staring at my rebellious gesture.

As a female of the 21st century, I want to know if this harassment is going to continue. We live in a world where sexual harassment lawsuits are abundant.

Some may think women are taking things too seriously, or are looking to earn quick cash. This might be true in some cases, but I would like to believe we are finally standing up for ourselves and letting the world know that females will no longer tolerate inappropriate comments or actions. My question is, if they’re so concerned with the women who are walking by, they’re becoming familiar with our daily routines.