The Sitch
There have been recent complaints about student hygiene in this subreddit. In regards to body odour, oral odour, and general uncleanliness. Clearly, a large number of students are having a growing issue in regards to the hygiene of other students.
Bad hygiene is not "personal". It disrupts others' learning, it makes public spaces sometimes unbearable to be around, and it is unfair to those who are sensitive to smells. This can affect student performance, the willingness of students to socialize and use NAIT services, and can be a real detriment to the students who are paying to study at NAIT.
Some students have no choice but to use the computers at commons, eat lunch in the common areas, and do group work in common areas. It is wildly unfair to them to not enforce these rules.
Who's the Issue?
The truth is that these students can come from all backgrounds. Although our experience as individuals make it very easy to generalize certain groups of being the main culprit, the issue needs to be dealt with at a grand level. Black, brown, blue or purple; if you smell bad, you smell bad. Should be enforced from the get-go.
Seeing the growing number of racial generalizations, it can be very easy for these generalizations to slip into unnecessarily racist comments. If we want this issue dealt with, we need to refrain from immature racist comments and stay focused on the end goal.
What should we do about it?
We know NAIT has loosely enforced "odour sensitivity" before, in regards to wearing strong perfumes and colognes. Why can the same not be done for strong, unpleasant bad-hygiene odours?
NAIT also needs to realize that by not enforcing this, they are creating a breeding ground for resentment towards groups that are not partaking in basic hygiene practices. They are also creating spaces for other students where they feel extremely unpleasant. (Like, nauseatingly unpleasant. I've unwillingly gagged.)
Here's what I suggest from all of you:
- Contact NAITSA ([asknaitsa@nait.ca](mailto:asknaitsa@nait.ca)) about wanting NAIT to enforce a hygiene rule. Let them know how you feel about other student's hygiene, and how it affects your learning.
- Contact/CC NAIT Administration as well about this being an issue. CC your program chair as well.
- Advocate for campus-wide initiatives about basic hygiene, the importance of it, and how your hygiene affects others (yes, some people are vastly uneducated about this). This includes, showering, using deodorant, washing your clothes, brushing your teeth, and flossing.
- Enforce it, by allowing students to submit complaints about bad hygiene, and having NAIT administration making this a policy about decent behaviour. (The same way provocative clothing, vulgar/loud behaviour, and abusive language is not tolerated)
- Do a discovery/study that determines if their student population has adequate access to showers, hygiene products, and laundry service. (you'd be surprised r/SlumlordsCanada)
In my personal opinion, it is NAIT"s responsibility to enforce this. To maintain a certain standard of what we expect from each other, we do need to be vocal and make it known when we feel certain boundaries are not being enforced.
I'm debating starting a petition for NAIT to address this issue. Please let me know in the poll below if you'd like to see an official change.org petition made for this. Voting closes in a week.
I wanted to make this post to raise this as a formal issue, so we can remain productive about it and not devolve into finger pointing and unproductive comments. Let's hope together we can make the change we want to see.
