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The concept of chivalry is one that teeters dangerously on the border of conflicting issues: feminism and it’s “implied hypocrisy” as some argue, social power inequalities between the genders, and even the tired excuse that “Chivalry is dead.” Burdened by all of these heavy issues, BC students may find themselves confused by the whole idea of chivalry. Is it still a thing? Is it only for men?
Not to fear, Eagles. Here at The Gavel, we’ve outlined 5 easy ways to be chivalrous—applicable to both genders.
1. Door Holding
Anthony Golden / Gavel Media
Cliché but necessary. This is a noticeable part of most students’ days on campus. The majority of our student body does make the effort to hold the door open for others, although a careful balance in timing needs to be achieved to gain the maximum appreciation from the entering student. A general rule of thumb is that if the person is ten or more feet behind you, don’t bother. If the gap is too large between you two, it causes you to pause awkwardly and makes them try to speed walk or jog, and it’s just not pleasant for either party. If the person is texting behind you, that’s also a sign that door-holding isn’t worth it.
2. Meal Plan
Anthony Golden / Gavel Media
We all know that end of the semester struggle that ensues as a result from the dining plan. As men and women for others, the chivalrous thing to do is help your fellow students eat by donating some of your extra dining dollars to the worried classmates around you in line. Do you really need those cases of PowerAde for the ride home from BC in May? We think not.
3. Printing Probs
Anthony Golden / Gavel Media
Everyone has them, it’s OK. But, when it’s 10 minutes before classes start on a weekday, now is not the time to fight it out in O’Neill as the line of students builds behind you. Please, be courteous of the people behind you. If you’re fighting a losing battle, raise the temporary white flag until after the printing rush is over. On the printing note, this also applies to Scanner Etiquette: if you have more than 30 pages to scan, do half of them, and then let the poor student who only needs a chart on one page scanned go before you resume your other 15 agonizingly slow pages.
4. Laundry Loitering
Anthony Golden / Gavel Media
Just don’t. This confuses me to no end. The process of doing your laundry is very simple, it’s practically mathematical and all you have to do is follow the formula. Put clothes and product in washer, come back in 34 minutes, remove clothes from washer, place in dryer, return to dryer in 60 minutes. Nowhere in this process is there time allocated for you to go play Frisbee outside or have a leisurely meal. Please, please, please, be a lady or a gentleman and return to your machines when you need to. No one wants to be the bad guy and take your clothes out. Don’t make them. Just get there on time, or, even better, get there early. That extra minute ensures you’ll have your things out as soon as the machine hits 0, and frees it up for the person behind you, who has probably already been standing around waiting for a machine to finish. The chivalrous thing to do is efficiently launder, not loiter!
5. Elevator Etiquette
Anthony Golden / Gavel Media
The worst for last. Let’s talk Maloney, people. How much of our student body lives on Lower campus? I’m not good with numbers, but the answer is a lot. There is a big flow of people flooding into the Maloney elevators to get to class every morning and most of the day. If you have the leisure of only needing to go to the second floor for office hours or a meeting, take the steps. Please, please, please take the 24 steps instead of aggravating a packed elevator when it needs to stop immediately to let just you out. The same is true if you’re leaving the third floor with the intention of going to O’Neill. There are steps for a reason. If you are able-bodied, take them.
The other part of elevator etiquette is the initial entering of the elevator. If someone is running to it, or even walking with purpose, and you are already comfortably in there with room to spare, hold the door from closing on them. Everyone is tight on time and helping your fellow classmate catch the elevator saves them a good 2 or 3 minutes, compared to the additional 20 seconds it takes you to hold the door for them. Additionally, elevator-entering friends, if there’s an uncomfortably close group of people in there and doors are closing, don’t force them open and try and wiggle your way in. Make the sacrifice for the greater good and don’t ruin everyone else’s day by making them later and feel more awkward than they need to be. After all, if there was room, they’d hold the door for you anyway (at least now that they’ve read this article).
All in all, chivalry is a pretty simple concept on campus. Following these five simple guidelines will make every man and lady a chivalrous one. Campus thanks you.
