We all enjoy having that special time with that special someone, but there needs to be a compromise. When the clock strikes quiet hours it’s time to lower the music and turn up the respect. We can all think of a time when we’re in the library until the bell at 2 AM. We aren’t quite ready for bed so we call a girlfriend or a boyfriend or a lovebird or a friend to help us pass the time.
We end up over the covers, then under.
Little do we acknowledge those students who have been in bed long before quiet hours even began. Everyone knows the only thing worse than being woken by an alarm clock is when wails and whines, grumbles and groans are bellowing from their neighbor’s rooms.
There needs to be a compromise. If someone somewhere, on a rainy Saturday, ends with a partner in their room, let them go at it. I want there to be an end to the chiding of one another with sidelong morning glances. Let the oversexed let loose; no need for knowing looks or patronizing back-pats, which might just be the worst.
At our NESCAC-sister school, Tufts University, a policy has been enforced that calls for an end to ‘sexiling’: “You may not engage in sexual activity while your roommate is present in the room. Any sexual activity within your assigned room should not ever deprive your roommate(s) of privacy, study or sleep time.” An administrative charter would never be necessary if those in practice would have practiced respect. In a note to our freshman and a selective group of sophomores: understand and meet each other’s needs.
In a recent study of twenty or so Harris diners, all interrupted while enjoying conversations over wraps and souvlaki, it was unanimously decided that it is difficult to keep from blushing when they cross paths with an oft-midnight-roarer. But, it was also noted that they themselves feel embarrassed when “doing the deed” a bit too thunderously.
In an ideal situation, if alone with their partner in an elevated cabin in the middle of the woods, these diners would love to have the loudest sex of their lives. On a scale of 1 (quiet sex) to 10 (“screaming contest” sex), 16/20 chose a 10 or 11. In our current situation, most often in a dorm room amidst others, the most popular number proved to be 4. Some link the difference to embarrassment, while others say they restrain their volume out of nerves.
I hope in the future we can compromise. No more judging when the lioness roars next door when the time is right. In exchange, when it’s lights out for our studious ones, bring pillow to face and keep quiet to your cries.
