For those of you who live off campus, you are well aware what the off campus meetings consist of. For those of you who do not, let me give you a quick recap.

It is a requirement for those students who are living off-campus, meaning not in any of the residence halls. At the meeting, you get a recap of the rules you have heard all your life or that you should have heard at some point in your life: Know your exits if there’s a fire, check your fire alarms to make sure they work, watch your extension cords to make sure they’re safe, always keep your doors locked and other such rules of safety.

The one thing that you would not know prior to living off campus is Millikin’s “three strikes and you’re in” policy. Basically, if a complaint is filed against you three times, you are called in for a meeting to discuss what is happening. According to the Office of Residence Life page, under Off-Campus Student Expectations, there is a chance that your approval will be revoked, and you will be responsible for paying the off-campus living fee. While the policy would not be prior knowledge, the common sense of knowing a good neighbor should be.

Now, I understand the relevance of these meetings, and I have to say that the one I had to attend this year was much better than last year’s. This year’s was more energetic and shorter than the one I remember last year, which was relatively monotone and I believe took the entire hour.

However, while I understand the relevance of these meetings, I still find them boring and a waste of time, especially for the frequency. For example, as someone who has lived off campus for two years, I think I should only need to attend one as opposed to attend both the meetings at the end of the academic year of my approval and the beginning of the academic year that I start residing off campus. It’s tedious.

I know Millikin’s covering their butt to make sure that we’re safe and that we’re also representing the positive qualities of Millikin, which is perfectly reasonable. I simply question the repetitiveness of these meetings. After all, the information is mostly the same, and a lot of it is – or certainly should be – common sense. Fire safety, theft prevention, insurance and carbon monoxide detection are most things that we should have heard of. Talking to your landlord about certain problems is new, as well as reading a lease thoroughly, but there is most likely an adult, whether a parent or a close family relative, who has informed you to be knowledgeable about your living arrangements.

I have to comment that I do like the Off-Campus Student Resources link on the Office of Resident Life page. I do not recall this page last year, or if it was there last year, a few more resources have been added. Either way, it is a useful resource for any student living off campus, and it should be used as a great tool. In fact, a lot of what we learned could be added to the page since it is important, and this way, it could be looked at time and time again if one should have any questions.

Yes, the information in the meetings is important, and it should be known, though most should have already learned this before they got to college. However, I think the requirement for attending these meetings should be reduced to one meeting during the period of living off campus, and the information should be added to that resources page. I believe this would be the best way to relay this information, and I’m sure more than a few would agree.