The College of William & Mary has implemented a new rule for the coming school year where students have to pay a $40 fee any time they lock themselves out of their rooms. This exorbitant amount is problematic for several reasons, and should be greatly reduced, if not scrapped entirely. Up until this year, there has been no cost associated with locking oneself out of one's room, so the rise from $0 to $40 dollars comes as an immense shock to many students. Below, a few problems with this policy are outlined.

1. This policy is explicitly classist. Many students, especially FGLI (First Generation/Low Income) students will be disproportionately affected. $40 to someone who is not very well off can be devastating. With most on-campus jobs, one would have to work four one-hour shifts to pay the price, and most on-campus jobs only schedule students for 15 hours a week. Many students do not have financial backing from family members, whether it be caused by lack of funds or lack of communication. Many more students chose William & Mary because of financial reasons. and a great deal of William and Mary students find $40 to be an offensively high price for something as simple and common as being locked out of your own room.
2. This policy is also ableist. People with ADHD, depression, or other conditions that affect memory and recall, which are very common amongst W&M students, will be unfairly affected by this policy. Additionally, many students with accommodations for disabilities live in single rooms, and those in single rooms will be affected a lot worse by this policy, as they do not have a roommate with a key to let them in. Personally, as someone with ADHD, I created an entire system to not forget my key last year, yet I still locked myself out of my room at least four times. If this policy had been in place, I would have had to pay at least $160 for these simple periodic mistakes, which I think is outrageous. I know many other people with ADHD who struggle with the same thing.
3. The College is promoting unsafe behaviors with this policy. This policy (I assume) is meant to discourage students from forgetting their keys in their rooms, which is frankly ridiculous. Nobody forgets their keys on purpose, so why punish mistakes? What this does discourage is not locking one's door. As a direct result of this policy, many students will leave their doors unlocked in order to avoid a possible $40 fee, which puts the student, their roommate, their suitemates, and all of their belonging in unnecessary danger. I am confident that, if this policy stays in place, W&M will see a rise in thefts across campus. Not only theft may occur, but there are other threats as well that face people with unlocked doors, such as invasions of privacy and stalking.
4. Providing a temporary key comes at no cost to the university. There are already duplicate keys in the Duty Offices of every dorm. The only cost associated is the labor of the RA's, to whom, I am sure, this money is not going. Not only that, that the paperwork RA's must fill out for a lock-out is not an hour's long process for each one, as this high price point would imply.

For the reasons listed above, I hope that the College of William & Mary will make the right decision in this matter and reverse the fee associated with a room lock-out. Even a less outrageous fee, such as $5 while still unjust, would be preferable. People should not have to pay to access a room that is already theirs. This is an inherently unfair policy that must be addressed as soon as possible.

Thank you for reading and supporting this petition.