It?s a typical college equation: Dorm life plus young people divided by freedom equals mayhem.

Living on campus is one of those things in life that everyone should do. It?s also one of the few things in life that actually lives up to its own hype. Almost everything people hear or associate with living in the residential halls is absolutely true. And despite the hot bed of diverse culture, class, and creed that protrudes through the cinder block housing, everyone has one thing in common; they live in the dorms for “the experience” of it.

Experiencing actual boredom in the dorms is next to impossible. Just read the Police Log every week and you?re bound to see some documented antics displayed in some hall. Now combine those newsworthy incidents with a weekly case of alcohol poisoning, dealing with residential aides with power trips, and the constant banging on the walls from people being silly or doing the horizontal polka dance; one can see why the dorms is deserving of its reputation.

Regardless of that picture painted for you, the dorm does appeal to all types of people. If you?re conservative, Sutter Hall is your best bet. If you?re serious about school, but not anal about it, then Sierra is your haven. Sutter and Sierra halls are more designed for the older crowd?the dorms across the lawn are where all the action is and potentially are the center of every parent?s nightmare.

Draper Hall is a watered down version of Jenkins Hall. And Jenkins Hall is straight up ghetto fabulous, without the fabulous part. And lastly, there?s Desmond Hall?the big Kahuna.

Forget an island, if you can live through Desmond, you?re truly a survivor because that hall alone reeks of sex, drugs and alcohol.

When I lived in the dorms a couple years ago, I hated it! But then after a while, I realized that I could get a different kind of education by taking advantage of dorm life. Waking up to the fact that living in the dorms provided ample opportunities to socialize and test my character somehow innately forced me to do so.

Whether I was being recruited into joining an anti-sorority sorority, stalking the basketball players for a month with my friends, or doing the “white-girl dance” on cue, living in the dorms somehow gave me this unofficial license to goof off and blame it on my youth.

Having fun is not required in the dorms, but the options are too hard to resist. Some people misunderstand how their newfound freedom that comes with living in the dorms excuses them from being idiots. But then again, those same people will someday regret their actions, particularly in their post-dorm era.

Like everything in life, there are pluses and minuses. No resident in the dorms can dispute how small and murky the rooms are, but it?s up to the people who live in them to make the best out of it. And to those unfortunate souls that never lived in the dorms, well, frankly, it?s too bad because you missed out on what could have possibly been one of the best times of your life.

Georgette Todd is a Journalism major and can be reached by e-mail at [email protected]