Staff Ignores Danger Posed by Fire

The staff is right in opposing Lewis' ban--but they oppose it for the wrong reasons.

The ban simply won't work. Hot pots and coffee makers and all non-religious candles are already banned in dorm rooms, to almost no effect. The safety precautions proposed in the editorial should be implemented instead. They will be at least as effective as simply prohibiting menorahs.

But the staff goes awry when it attempts to turn this ban into some grand, insensitive swipe at religious freedom rather than an understandable--if ineffective--precaution. Menorahs are dangerous. There were two incidents last semester in which makeshift menorahs started fires, and there is usually at least one such incident each year. Even a small fire can set off the sprinklers and cause tens of thousands of dollars of water damage; a large fire can be tragic. The staff writes that we should be treated as adults. As much as I enjoy autonomy, I don't feel like dying because the idiot next door doesn't know how to handle an open flame. If smoking and kitchens prove to be fire hazards, then perhaps those should be banned too.

But as of now, the evidence has shown one thing: cluttered dorm rooms are firetraps, and menorahs present a clear and present danger to life and limb. Just like freedom of speech, religious freedom must step aside when obvious threats to personal safety arise.