Locker-popping amounts to vandalism

It may seem that a security risk is the primary drawback of locker-popping. However, the practice actually causes a much greater harm: damage to locker doors that is expensive and time consuming to fix.

Diane Huang

It may seem that a security risk is the primary drawback of locker-popping. However, the practice actually causes a much greater harm: damage to locker doors that is expensive and time consuming to fix.

Opening lockers is a tedious thing, taking a few seconds to put a combination in, concentrate, and hope that it works the first time around. Despite having more time in between classes thanks to the new schedule, students still pop their lockers to save the extra minute. When it comes to the harms of popping a locker, the first thing that comes to mind is a student’s personal security. According to Dean of Students Judy Cummins, there haven’t been any reported thefts from lockers this year – hardly a number to incite any fear for one’s valuables if they are stored in a locker. So, it’s harmless right? Wrong. The real harm in popping lockers is not undermining personal security but in the well-being of the locker itself.

“There are two things that are concerning about [popping lockers],” Cummins said, “the first is –  it’s vandalism.” The constant push and pull of lockers wears them out and eventually they are damaged. “For our maintenance staff that’s a huge problem. They have to come in over the summer and repair our lockers,” Cummins said.

For lockers, initially, there seems to be very little harm done at first, but eventually, some lockers no longer stay shut, or are bent in such a way that they are difficult to open, among other things. Students are expected to take care of and utilize their lockers, but the responsibility of the reparation of a locker falls onto maintenance. Extra time, work, and money diverges into fixing a broken locker because its owner decided that they did not have the patience or time to put in a three number lock combination to open their locker on too many occasions.

It would make sense that locker popping has become a habit, due to the old schedule of eight classes in a day, and lunch in between. With little time in between classes, “students found an expedient way to get in their lockers,” Cummins said. With the new schedule having a focus on avoiding back-to-back classes, locker popping is unnecessary. Other than one instance on Wednesdays, there are almost always more than four minutes between each class. Decreasing the amount of times a locker must be forced open is easier now, responsible, and considerate.