# Leelanau Talk Blog

because we need a safe place to speak

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Leelanau Talk Blog

## 75 Bucks For Thumbtacks? What?

November 16th, 2008 | Tags: johndavis, ridiculous, thumbtacks
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Ok, I’ve been at Leelanau for most of my High school career, and I love the school. It is by-far the best high school I have ever attended. That being said, there are obvious problems that need to be discussed here, and in person. That’s why I am posting, as the site says, “Because we need a safe place to speak…”

At the end of the ’07-’08 year, I was charged for damage to my walls. There wouldn’t be anything wrong with that if the reason was different, like if there was graffiti like in other rooms, or if there was gum or something else like that stuck all over. There wasn’t. The reason I was charged was because, according to the bill, damage from posters being put on my wall. I was charged 75 dollars. 75 dollars for hanging posters with thumbtacks. A thumbtack has a point of about .7-1.0 mm. so what would the damage look like? You wouldn’t see it if you were not looking for it. So, the staff member who filled out the form was looking for things to charge me with, and he found it.
Another problem with them charging 75 dollars, is that they can’t do anything to fix the damage with that money. It goes straight to the bank, and who knows where that goes… the walls in the dorm were made of wood, which would be very expensive to fix, and 75 dollars wouldn’t cover it. I would say that 150 might be a start, that’s 75 dollars from me and my roommate, but only I was charged.

Only I was charged, even though my roommate and I used the exact same thumbtacks. The same thumbtacks from the same box. I called up our suitemates, and neither of them was charged, even though they used thumbtacks also.

Why is this a big deal? Because there is obviously a bias in this story, the staff member who filled out the form has tried to charge me for other things, despite my repeated maintenance request forms for various other issues. And 75 dollars might not seem like much for a typical student at Leelanau, who are mainly high income families, but I come from a lower-middle class family, and we don’t have that kind of money.

So there it is. My first post, if you have a similar story please post it here. I feel that the school discriminates against lower income families more because they have a possibility of not “returning the favor of a good education through monetary means.” Basically, you’re more likely to be harassed, if you won’t donate later.

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