The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps is a respected campus department, but some students in Morrison Residence Hall wish it would respect their sleeping patterns.
Morrison residents have recently complained about the ROTC program using megaphones at 6 a.m. to wake up sleeping students.
Junior Kassie Atwood lives on the third floor of Morrison facing the football field. She said that the noise woke her up around 6:30 a.m.
“I didn’t need to get up that early, and then I couldn’t go back to sleep. It was wasted time. I don’t get enough sleep anyway,” Atwood said.
Atwood said she left her windows open overnight because of the nice weather, which made the noise louder.
“I don’t think the air conditioning had been turned on at that point because it wasn’t necessary. I had to pick between closing my windows and making my room really hot or keeping my windows open and not sleeping,” she said.
Sophomore Jacob Carroll lives on the side of Morrison furthest from the football field. He said that he was not disturbed by the noise, but two of his roommates were. Carroll also said that his fourth roommate participates in ROTC and was one of the students involved.
“I think it was kind of funny. I know people in Morrison were upset, and I know some girls in Dowling were woken up,” Carroll said. “They were just having fun.”
Some students said that the rumor around campus is that the morning greetings are in commemoration of a “warrior week” that ROTC students took part in during the last week of March.
However, Carroll said his roommate insisted it was a humorous effort encouraged by the commanders.
“All they yelled was ‘Good morning, Morrison,’” Carroll said. “It shouldn’t have been that big of a deal.”
ROTC administrators declined to comment about the incidents. Also, several ROTC students declined to comment without permission from their commanders.
Atwood said she would appreciate a response.
“What’s the secret? Why can’t you tell us? If you’re doing it out in the open, I think you should tell people why you’re doing it,” Atwood said.
“If it’s only happened two times, there’s nothing I think I could have done to stop them. But I’d be mad if it happened multiple times… that’s just rude and inconsiderate,” freshman Sarah Cook said.
Anastasia Straley can be reached at stra0669@stthomas.edu.
When you have a 30 hour work week, 16 credits and 3 majors and grad scool application to deal with it becomes a big deal. I got back from the Library at 1:30am, asleep by 2am. Woken up at 5:55am to ‘WAKE UP MORRISION’ followed by loud shouting for the rest of the morning.The automatic noise was left on full blast on the loud speaker until at least 6:25am. Didnt get back to sleep. Threw my week off as i dont sleep enough anyway. JUST MOVE 40 YARDS to the other side of the football field. Me my roomate and 3 other friends were complaining about this the next day. The Airforce students are fine, its just their commanding officers are the problem. They have not used the loud speaker since Monday last week and have moved to the other side of the football field.
I know people in the Airforce. Their intention is to wake up Morrision residents. The officers and some of the ROTC people think its funny. Wouldnt be so funny if they were the ones slugging a 11 hour work and study day on 4hours sleep. It pure arrogance on the commanding officers part. Saying all this I didnt wake up this morning when they were doing it.
That must really be tough. I would hate to get woken up by the sound of freedom outside my window every morning. And man, I bet none of those AFROTC cadets have jobs, or busy class schedules, or EVER STAY UP LATE AT THE LIBRARY. The nerve of those cadets to have a little fun with their fellow classmates as they break a sweat against terrorism. Lighten up Quinnward. Smile a bit.
Draper…1.”freedom”-what are you talking about? 2.of course they work hard and have jobs 3.we are on different schedules,so a little fun at other peoples expense is ok?and waking up people weekly is ok?good point.4.I am not trying to turn this political argument which you have done.it’s very easy to stir patriotic sentiments here,good job Should I come to your window with a loud speaker weekly and wake you up?same thing.
1) Good journalism strives to be unbiased and fairly show both sides to a story through the use of multiple sources. Here, I see a one-sided article that quotes one aggravated person multiple times while SPECULATING on what the other side might think for only one sentence. Using rumors as sources or points that are structured to sound like hearsay isn’t convincing. (Ex: “Carroll said his roommate insisted…”)
2) In my time at UST, every upperclassman Morrison resident knew that ROTC cadets exercised on the football field in the morning–that was the cost of getting a beautiful view of the football field. You get a cool view for homecoming. That is the way its always been, underclassmen. Deal with it.
3) ROTC cadets are some of the hardest working students I’ve ever met. They don’t get the opportunity to sleep in every day–yet they do have to stay up just as late as other students to get their homework done. Most have jobs that they do have to balance with their academic schedules in addition to their ROTC duties, which includes a combination of physical fitness+classes/tests+and club/organizational duties. They all strive to do this in pursuit of a selfless career in the military amid an increasingly apathetic society that belittles military service. Loosen up…
“The sound of freedom”? Wait, what? I hope you were trying to be funny Don…
At what point in the article did it say that this is a weekly occurrence? Let’s also remember that there must be some upperclassmen in Morrison guilty of making loud and obnoxious noises at odd hours in public places. I’m sure residents of Dowling and Ireland are thrilled when people shout on the quad when they’re trying to sleep. It happened and now it’s over. Move on.
When I lived in Brady Hall my freshman year, my room directly faced the football field. I often woke up from the ROTC exercises on the football field very early in the morning. It annoyed me at the time, until I discovered actually getting out of bed and closing the window. I suggest to those who are bothered, to consider buying some ear plugs to sleep in. They work really well.
“Freedom”? “Breaking a sweat against terrorism”? Maybe some students anticipating a post-grad stint in the Peace Corps could decide to do loud, obnoxious, drills outside people’s windows in the morning. Would it be ok to complain then?
Wow, I read this story, and I couldn’t believe how biased it was! Before you go about writing an article like this, get BOTH sides of the story.
“I didn’t need to get up that early, and then I couldn’t go back to sleep. It was wasted time.” — Time is only wasted if YOU waste it. You were up late, now you’re up early, and that sucks. I get it. But now that you’re awake, how about this: open the books and get some studying done so you don’t have to stay up quite so late next time.