In recent weeks, the dorms Stuart and Fuess have had their microwaves confiscated following inappropriate conduct. In Stuart, a student deliberately placed a soda wrapped inside an aluminum-lined wrapper in the microwave. In Fuess, ramen was burnt in the middle of the night two Mondays ago, triggering a fire alarm.
The incident in Stuart was significantly more serious as the event appeared to be intentional. Dr. Derek Jacoby, a house counselor in Stuart, provided additional details on the incident and the work being put in to resolve it.
“It happened during study hours, and some students who were near the microwave in their rooms heard a very loud pop. They came out of their rooms and saw that there was a fire inside the microwave. They unplugged it, picked it up, and ran to put it outside. The Dean of Students is working to try to figure out what they can find out about who might be responsible,” said Jacoby.
Stuart House is not the only dorm dealing with safety issues regarding microwaves. Fuess House had a similar incident, though it was accidental. Wilton Cordero Suarez ’28, a resident of Fuess House, gave his perspective on what occurred in his dorm and what led to the repercussions.
“Someone put ramen in the microwave without any water. I don’t know how it happened or who did it, but we had the firefighters to [come] and check. Eventually, they came out with a burnt chunk of ramen. [Originally,] when people were smelling the smoke, they couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. Some people thought it was like a gas leak or something,” said Cordero Suarez.
Students are searching for explanations for why these incidents are occurring and coming to their own conclusions on who may be responsible. Russ McLaren ’27, a Stuart resident, gave his insight into student reactions following microwave disasters.
“We don’t know who did it. There’s speculation, but no one actually knows. Other students are saying who they think it might be, but those might be rumors. My house counselors found out that people are spreading rumors or talking about it, and we had to have another dorm meeting addressing the fact that we can’t create rumors. We don’t have microwaves anymore, and I’m not sure when we’re gonna get them back,” said McLaren.
House counselors are working on building back trust within their dorm communities and implementing the values that both the dorm and the school hold. Their main goal is to make sure that these incidents are not repeated. Dr. Jacoby discusses his thoughts on the situation.
“There seems to be no other conclusion other than it was intentional. Since it was intentional, we discussed a lot of what the person responsible was putting at risk, which was the entire dorm community, their neighbors, and their colleagues. We have house counselors and faculty children in the building. We discussed the severity of the incident, whether it was malicious or whether it was a prank, and discussed how it didn’t align with our dorm values and our school values,” said Jacoby.
