By Kitty Softpaws
Crazy Cat Lady
Students and staff alike have finally had enough.
At the Senate meeting on March 21, following the approval of all-campus naps, students addressed their concerns about flip flops in class.
“I’m having such a hard time concentrating now that more people are wearing sandals or flip flops to class,” junior Laney Vans said during the discussion. “I can barely get a word in with all the barking.”
Many students voiced similar concerns, with many calling for a campus-wide ban on all open-toed shoes in an attempt to silence the little pups.
President of Washington College Dr. Michael J. Sosulski attended this week’s meeting, after an overwhelming number of complaints from the College and frustration with the annual plummet of student’s grades as the weather warms up.
“LMFAO once said, ‘no shoes, no shirt, and I still get service.’ Well, things are about to change around here,” class officer freshman Brooke Thomas said. “The [Student Government Association] have been instructed to help showcase WC as a highly renowned establishment, not a trashy, one-hit wonder.”
In efforts to stop the dogs from barking and interrupting class, SGA has officially banned flip flops, muzzling the loud and disrupting noises during class once and for all.
President Sosulski is hoping that WC as a whole will benefit in terms of learning and visual appeal, and students will hopefully appreciate this long-awaited ban.
The issue of dogs in the classroom was reaching the point where professors had to end classes early due to relentless animalistic noises coming from beneath the desks.
Some students, however, feel as if this ban is suppressing student’s freedom of expression.
“As I often say, ‘to be body positive, one must accept the whole body, including the feet,’” sophomore Noah Gentry said.
Gentry is an advocate for freeing the dogs in classrooms and is ashamed of how much ridicule students face for loving themselves and their dogs.
Students opposing the open-toed shoe ban are also concerned about animal abuse, as the suffocation of the dogs all day is an inhumane practice.
“Give the dogs the air and space they need to breathe,” Gentry said.
Supporters of the ban, however, believe that the dogs belong elsewhere on campus.
“Last time I checked, these dogs were not paying tuiton to go here,” sophomore Kennedy Madewell said. “They shouldn’t get to go to class for free.”
The Campus Green is a perfect, more acceptable and non-distracting area for the dogs to be let free after their closed-toe containment.
“Take your dogs for a walk around the park. The rest of us do not have to see them, and they can have free-range on the green outside of class time,” freshman Allison Tinkham said.
President Sosulski is recommending a rebrand of the Campus Green to the Dog Park, to appeal to those who like their dogs roaming outside of their dorms.
Additionally, allowing dogs into the classroom is a threat to many students.
Whether that be allergies, the valuing of one’s nostrils, or a fear of dogs, the continual allowance of these creatures into the classroom is disrupting the attendance of students campus-wide.
“It’s not fair th at my friends and I cannot attend class because people are selfishly keeping their dogs out. It’s like a leash, put a sock on it,” freshman Sydney Walker said.
The banning of flip-flops to hide the dogs in a classroom setting is for the general well-being of all of campus and the continuation of growing and improving the College.
Photo by Parker Thornton.
Photo Caption:Now that the dogs are banned from attending classes, they can roam free on the Campus Green, soon to be rebranded as the Dog Park.