I am writing this Wespeak as a plea for students in the Wesleyan community to begin to have some self-respect as well as respect for the educational institution in which they are students. Also, I am just disgusted by the amount of body odor on this campus.
While I understand that life as a student can be hectic and often time-consuming, somehow I always find time to take a shower, put on deodorant, and NOT wear the same clothes that I slept in and/or wore the day before (or the whole week before). Not only does the prevalence of people on this campus who do not complete these basic hygenic steps amaze me, but people seem unashamed and even proud of their griminess.
I understand the first response to my complaint will be, What I do is MY business, how does it affect you?? I will tell you how it affects me: when I’m sitting next to you in class and you smell bad the whole time, I can’t concentrate. When I’m standing behind you in line to get food at vegan cafe the scent of your dirty clothes makes me lose my appetite. Honestly it doesn’t bother me that much in isolated instances but here at Wesleyan, my experiences with body odor occur several times daily.
Now let me turn my attention to clothing. Similarly, if one does not do laundry for a month and wears the same outfit every single day, this will contribute to the aforementioned odor. Moreover, I just find it to be somewhat disrespectful and inappropriate to roll up to class wearing pajamas or the clothes you slept in last night. If you are reading this and asking the same question, Who cares?? then think about this. Have you EVER seen a professor show up to class wearing pajamas? I have been here three years and yet to see it happen. At Wesleyan we are all about mutual respect, so if the professors have enough respect for what they are doing here to not show up in pajamas or smelly clothes, then you should have enough respect for yourself as a student to do the same.
On a somewhat unrelated note, this campus as a whole is in serious need of some fashion education. Ugly clothes have been done, they aren’t unique, they aren’t creative, they are just plain ugly. Me and Lucy Diaz (3rd floor, North College) are bringing up Stacy and Clinton to Wesleyan to have them teach a class: FASH101- What Not to Wear. But that is for another Wespeak. For now, lets just limit it to these few basic courtesies:
1. No pajamas to class
2. No Body Odor
3. No unwashed clothing.
Leave a Reply