Summer Morrison is tired of being harassed by intrusive Resident Assistants (RAs) just because she has dreadlocks. “This is America, 2003, you can’t judge a person based on their looks,” she argued. Morrison has charged RAs with meddling door knocking and random, unannounced room checks on her 1408 Tower A dorm room.
“Freedom” Michael Nelson of Tower B also reports similar harassment. “They think just because I smell like patchouli, subscribe to High Times magazine, and wear a ’Legalize It Now’ T-shirt that automatically they can come in my room when they smell marijuana. Well, I got news for them. They can’t, I have civil liberties. And just because they provide me with an education and a place to live, they can’t take away my rights. My parents pay good money for me to stay here,” Nelson complained.
Nelson and Morrison have joined forces with other targeted dorm residents to fight back against this apparent hippie profiling. The group, Hippies Against Profiling (HAP), has already petitioned the Student Government Board to offer hygiene diversity training for RAs, and has garnered a petition calling for a hippie review board to investigate allegations made against RAs.
While Tower residents are crying foul, RAs are fighting back. “We have a job to do,” said Towers Resident Director Jamie Radisson. “We have to keep the Towers safe for underage drinkers by removing illegal substances from the mix. It’s a tough enough battle without restrictions. Now if the hippies’ proposed referendum passes, it’ll be damn near impossible.”
Tower hippies are quick to counter that effective enforcement need not contain a hippie profiling policy, and that if even one hippie is falsely labeled as a pot smoker, the administration is over the line.
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