It's "Celebrate the Resident Week" this week in Purdue's residence halls, and it is thick with irony. Perhaps "Exploit The Resident Week" would be an appropriate name for every other week the halls are open. Every year, prices are raised, services cut and students become less and less the customers, and a class of contractual slaves to exploit whenever it tickles the fancy of Smalley Center. This year, student workers did not receive the raises we were accustomed to, and in the same week, a large hike in fees and housing costs. Having problems with your Internet connection? Prepare to pay more for less, again. Next year, the cost is effectively $220 up from $170 and a new room in Cary's east unit could cost you over $8,000.

The halls have made a shift to seeing just how much money they can squeeze out of the students; they close dining halls and engage in lengthy construction projects that run months overdue proving a disruption and a distraction to students who are attempting to study. The athletics department runs roughshod over the rules that govern every other student, parking wherever they want, whenever they want, and all the while the halls smile and their pockets grow fatter. Take notice, Smalley Center, the students will not continue to allow you to ransack their pocketbooks forever.