It is a friday night at the George Washington University: freshman students are in their club outfits ready to go and explore DC. They are so excited to now be a part of the campus and enjoy the area. While I agree that everyone in college should have fun and enjoy life, there are some parameters that come along with this. Perhaps one of the most important is RESPECT. Cold, unadulterated, RESPECT. A lot of the times at universities, we see entitled students destroy dorms, disrupt students, leave trash, and yell at personnel. They feel that it is their right since they "pay tuition" or "pay the salaries" of different personnel. However, it is not anyone's right to trash the public bathroom in your residence hall, scream at the University Police officer for telling you to smoke somewhere else, or scream at a dorm staffer sitting at your dorm when he or she refuses to let you up because you or your guest do not have the proper identification to enter the building. It is time for hatred, pettiness, and pure disrespect to go out of fashion. Here are some of the key reasons why RESPECT needs to be a vocabulary word in your dictionary and a theme in your heart and soul:

To the university custodian who had to clean up the bathroom you just trashed:

The custodian wants to thank you for the mess. The custodian wants to thank you for making him or her stay 40 minutes past their shift in order to pick up your irresponsible mess. The custodian wants to thank you for allowing him or her to miss her son and daughter's night showing of the Nutcracker.

As a student, reflect. Understand your actions were uncalled for. You had no right to trash a bathroom or leave it in shambles for someone else to come clean up. RESPECT goes a long way in this situation. Did you have to puke all on the floor? Did you have to throw toilet paper everywhere? Did you have to clog the sink? Sure, you might say it's the custodian's job to "clean the bathroom"; however, it IS NOT THEIR JOB to be your personal maid. Be respectful and clean up the mess you made after using it.

To the university police officer you just screamed at:

The officer wants to thank you for screaming at him or her. He wants to thank you for escalating the situation. He or she wants to thank you for your sense of entitlement that has just gotten you into more trouble.

It is never necessary to scream at an officer for telling you to smoke at another location at a NON-SMOKING CAMPUS. Stop and think about your actions. If you would have abided by the rules and listened there would have been no consequence. Instead, you screamed and got written up for disorderly conduct. All of this could have been avoided by simply being RESPECTFUL.

To the dorm staffer you just screamed at for not signing in your guest because he or she did not have identification:

The staffer wants to thank you for screaming at him or her. The staffer wants to thank you for saying that this is "bullshit" or that this policy is "stupid." The staffer wants you to know that your words fueled with animosity only make you look like more of an imbecile.

As a resident of this hall, stop and think. Be appreciative that this staffer is here day in and day out making sure you are safe. Be thankful that the staffer was so cautious and did not let your guest in, for the safety of everyone in the building. Instead of screaming words fueled with hate, BE RESPECTFUL, BE UNDERSTANDABLE, BE COMPASSIONATE. Understand that this is the staffer's job and duty that he or she is performing on behalf of the University. Stop with the hateful words, grunts, and dismay.

In any of the following situations, all that needs to occur is RESPECT. Only you can make sure that the custodian gets to leave on time by being respectful in the bathroom and cleaning up after yourself, only you can be respectful to the officer and listen to his or her requests, only you can be respectful to the dorm staffer and acknowledge that her or she is simply doing his or her job. All of these situations would be much more peaceful if respect was involved. As college students, it is time to stop acting like children and learn some important adult characteristics that you will need for the rest of your life, and starting with respect is critical in order to succeed in almost every area of life.