This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things

In case you haven’t checked your email in the past day, or if you are a member of Northern Review’s valued audience of families and alumni of Ohio Northern University, you should know that the C-Store has been indefinitely closed.

It’s definitely a problem that only those of considerable economic privilege may complain about, but it is true that the loss of the C-Store, for however long it may be out of commission, is a disappointment to students like us. Personally, I can’t count the number of times I have relied on the C-Store for a late-night caffeine boost while completing some last-minute schoolwork, and I am very confident that many of my peers share this experience. Even putting aside the convenience of 24/7 on-campus access to basic goods, the chance to make such purchases through prepaid “dining dollars” rather than the usual United States dollar (USD) made both a psychological and pragmatic difference in many students’ financial decision-making.

Financial Affairs cites “a rash of thefts at the store resulting in significant loss” in an email to the student body announcing the decision. Of course, we don’t have a quantifiable metric for the extent of this “significant loss,” or even an indication of the C-Store becoming unprofitable over recent days and weeks. But if you’re on YikYak and sympathise with the emerging perspective that ONU could easily have afforded to accept whatever the real extent of the theft is without closing the C-Store, I am here to tell you that you are part of the problem.

First and foremost, and I am generally disappointed that it needs to be said, the chance that your actions will close a beloved student service is not the main thing that is wrong about stealing. The main thing that is wrong with stealing is that you are taking something that does not belong to you. While every major ethical theory of right action generally forbids theft absent a compelling overriding interest, I would encourage anyone who is unconvinced to review the principle of Universalizability.

But suppose that the combined YikYak investigative team is right; the C-Store’s “significant loss” due to theft was grossly exaggerated, and Ohio Northern University could have afforded to continue operating the C-Store without experiencing any considerable financial loss. Even under these (highly unlikely) circumstances, we as a student body should expect this outcome, and the administration of ONU would be plausibly justified in doing so.

Given how prevalent the “they don’t care about students” narrative is among the student body at ONU, it somewhat surprises me that the consensus opinion would be anything other than recognition that if we as a student body give the administration a valid reason to reduce student services, they will take it (to be clear, this is not a position I endorse; it is the implication of the viewpoint of the average ONU student). Under this framing of yesterday’s development, why wouldn’t we be working to protect a student service we all value? Surely this would entail not stealing from the C-Store.

Even putting this aside, we could assume for the sake of argument that 1) the leadership at ONU does indeed care about students and 2) the claims of “significant loss” are somehow exaggerated. Under these conditions, the indefinite closure of the C-Store would still be justified. Even if a financial loss didn’t necessitate it, Ohio Northern is in no way obligated to allow some students to steal from the university. They may be legitimately interested in not being stolen from merely because they don’t like it, or because they don’t want to produce college graduates with such an indifferent attitude towards theft.

No matter how you look at it, the implication is clear: the indefinite closure of the C-Store is our fault. Not ONU’s fault. Not the economy’s fault. It is the collective fault of the student body at ONU.

The frustrating truth is that there are many students at ONU who simply do not care enough about basic moral principles or other people. It seems intuitively true to me that a good person would refrain from stealing simply because stealing is wrong. But even if they somehow didn’t find theft to be morally wrong, or at least theft from ONU to be morally wrong, a conscientious person should have foreseen this outcome and refrained from stealing out of consideration for their peers.

This isn’t a new problem, nor is it one specific to theft from the C-Store. It is indicative of a much broader social attitude of selfishness and thoughtlessness for others among the Ohio Northern University student body. Consider previous years’ vandalism in residence halls and malicious activations of fire alarm systems. Consider also the shameful state of discourse on YikYak, especially as reported by my colleague in student journalism Riley Mason. Any other assertions I could make on the basis of anecdotal evidence would be poorly supported and legally inadvisable.

To be sure, I have met my best friends at ONU. I have also encountered many people who are more selfish, rude, and inconsiderate than I thought possible. Especially as I begin looking towards my professional career after ONU, as are most of the graduating seniors, I have been reflecting upon my time here and come to a troubling realization: I am embarrassed to be a part of ONU’s student body.

It’s honestly embarrassing that we are unable to earn the continued existence of a small, self-service convenience store on campus. It’s embarrassing that we vandalize our own home. It’s embarrassing that we have normalized such obscene rhetoric. It’s embarrassing that so many of us have a general disregard for the value of higher education itself.

This is why we can’t have nice things.