Rice Cooker, I Hardly Knew Ye

Harvard trusts its students with thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment, fragile laboratory tools and rare books. The administration lauds the student body's collective intelligence, trumpeting its ever decreasing admissions rate and skyrocketing average SAT score, not to mention the countless Rhodes scholars and prominent academics who emerge from our ranks. Yet they have no faith in students' ability to use toasters and other simple kitchen appliances.

I walked into my room on Monday afternoon to find two strange men packing my roommates' and my possessions into a cardboard box. Our microwave, toaster, hot pot, rice cooker and candles were labeled with our room number and stuffed into the box. Citing vague safety violations, their supervisor left me with a printed handout on fire safety regulations and an assurance that the "violations" would be returned at the end of the year.

So, our room was forced to say farewell to late night cups of cocoa, toasted bagels and microwave popcorn. Apparently the administration believes college students at one of the most prestigious institutions of learning in the country cannot be trusted to safely operate kitchen appliances. More than the loss of our warm snacks, I was disappointed by the University's lack of faith in their students' level of basic common sense.

The majority of Harvard students come from homes with microwaves, toasters and other such kitchen appliances. From a young age, most of us have reheated our own meals, toasted our own bread and otherwise provided for ourselves. Even in the odd chance that a student had never used a microwave, I have complete faith that he or she would quickly figure out a way to safely operate it. It's nowhere near as difficult as derivatives or Kant's theory of the self. Yet the Harvard administration seems to not believe that we can heat up a bowl of soup without burning down the whole campus.

Hypocritically, students are allowed to use microwaves if they are part of Harvard Student Agencies' microfridge, which can be yours (just for a year) if you plunk down a few hundred dollars. I guess the school is suggesting that if you are smart enough to take part in their amazing deal, you're intelligent enough to use a microwave without starting a fire. Not only that, but proctors and other university officers are apparently viewed by the administration as responsible enough to toast a slice of bread without turning Canaday into the Towering Inferno, Part 2.

A concern for fire regulations is vital, especially considering the recent dorm fire at Seton Hall. Regardless, this policy against kitchen appliances is absolutely inane. Other appliances, such as irons, blow driers and lamps have just as much propensity for starting a fire as a toaster or rice cooker. The rule does little to improve fire safety and only lowers the quality of life for students. If we can be trusted with the keys of knowledge, can't we be trusted with a microwave?