Living in Gate House, there isn’t much to be excited about. During orientation when you tell your new acquaintances where you live, you often get a look as if you had just told them you enjoy spending your Saturday nights playing World of Warcraft. Yet the one redeeming quality of living in Gatehouse is its proximity to the Coop. I love that I can check my mail, enjoy a late night grilled cheese and study with friends in such a nice space. However, lately I have been avoiding the Coop because of a new addition courtesy of WRCU. Instead of simply broadcasting their material online and on the radio, they now blast whatever they are playing on large speakers in the Coop.

I have no problem with Colgate’s radio station; perhaps if I took the time to listen to it, I would actually enjoy it. But I grew to hate WRCU last weekend when I walked into the Coop and attempted to complete an International Relations reading. Instead of listening to the crackling of the fire, the quiet buzz of conversations and the sound of my own note-taking, I was instead bombarded with a few girls discussing the logistical feasibility of covering your body with sushi and having someone eat it off of you. While this is an extremely important issue that I’m sure impacts every Colgate student, I (perhaps selfishly) feel that my reading about nuclear proliferation was a tad more important. Don’t get me wrong; I am all for free speech. In fact, if next week WRCU wanted to do a show on covering your body with other world cuisines, they surely have the right to do so. But I also believe I have a right to be able to freely concentrate on how to react if nuclear war breaks out between India and Pakistan more than, say, how to react if while your body is covered in sushi you happen to sneeze.

I don’t think I am being unreasonable; after all, I don’t demand the Coop be completely silent. In fact, the reason I prefer to study in the Coop over other places on campus like the library is that it has the right amount of noise. The Coop isn’t just for studying, but for socializing, meeting with campus groups and having a meal. Having this amount of steady conversation presents a nice background for me to study. In contrast, the dead silence of the reading room in the library often makes me feel nervous to clear my throat, lest I be confronted with a dozen death stares.

I understand that WRCU would like publicity for the many interesting programs and innovative music that make up its content. But if students wanted to listen to WRCU in the Coop, they could plug their headphones into their computer and listen. Instead of bombarding us with whatever happens to be on while we are trying to get work done, WRCU could put up flyers advertising their programming as well as how to listen in.

In the meantime, I’ll be in the library, which although oppressively quiet, doesn’t include loud conversations that make me queasy at the notion of eating sushi.