Spring Break
Column: Life moves pretty fast if you're homeless at URI
Lindsay Lorenz
Issue date: 2/12/09 Section: Editorial/Opinion
02/12/09 - If the recent downturn of the economy's left you feeling cold, abandoned ... or perhaps homeless, here's a warm thought: the University of Rhode Island is practically a palace for the vagrant and despondent. Well, it could be anyway.
It's absolutely amazing what homeless people could get away with if they tried to live on the Kingston campus.
Say you're homeless. You're unemployed. You haven't got a cent to your name. Where do you go?
For starters, at some point or another, most of us have probably passed out on a library couch. The University Library is, by far, one of URI's most conducive environments for sleep. And, if there is one building on this campus that is undoubtedly 95 degrees, it's the library. So why not sleep there? When the library closes at 11:30 p.m., the 24-hour room is still open and accessible to anyone. The university has not thought of making students swipe their student identification cards to access the room, so with the exception of a handful of students struggling to finish their papers or poring over notes, you'll pretty much have the place to yourself.
When you wake up, start your morning with a stroll over to the Memorial Union.
If you've ever been in the union basement, there's a bathroom around the corner from the Cigar office. It's a secluded bathroom near the janitorial headquarters in a dim hallway, and probably the most obvious place on campus to get jumped. (If that happens to be your fate, no one will hear you scream. We think about this all the time.)
On a more positive note, the room contains a shower and it's likely the water is hot. There's plenty of soap, too.
Next up, time to get dressed. Check out the theater department's costume room. Go crazy here. Don't worry about not blending in. There are all kinds of unique people walking around this campus anyway. Who are we to judge?
When you're all cleaned up, feeling fresh in your new gear, head to one of URI's dining halls for a hot meal.
It's absolutely amazing what homeless people could get away with if they tried to live on the Kingston campus.
Say you're homeless. You're unemployed. You haven't got a cent to your name. Where do you go?
For starters, at some point or another, most of us have probably passed out on a library couch. The University Library is, by far, one of URI's most conducive environments for sleep. And, if there is one building on this campus that is undoubtedly 95 degrees, it's the library. So why not sleep there? When the library closes at 11:30 p.m., the 24-hour room is still open and accessible to anyone. The university has not thought of making students swipe their student identification cards to access the room, so with the exception of a handful of students struggling to finish their papers or poring over notes, you'll pretty much have the place to yourself.
When you wake up, start your morning with a stroll over to the Memorial Union.
If you've ever been in the union basement, there's a bathroom around the corner from the Cigar office. It's a secluded bathroom near the janitorial headquarters in a dim hallway, and probably the most obvious place on campus to get jumped. (If that happens to be your fate, no one will hear you scream. We think about this all the time.)
On a more positive note, the room contains a shower and it's likely the water is hot. There's plenty of soap, too.
Next up, time to get dressed. Check out the theater department's costume room. Go crazy here. Don't worry about not blending in. There are all kinds of unique people walking around this campus anyway. Who are we to judge?
When you're all cleaned up, feeling fresh in your new gear, head to one of URI's dining halls for a hot meal.
