There are several “easy buttons” located all throughout campus. The real use of these buttons is to open the doors for people with handicaps. Although these people truly need the buttons, there are many students who simply reap the benefits because they are there.
The blue buttons seem to call out to students of Fairfield and spark their inner laziness. Often I hear parents or visitors making comments about how they find it odd that everyone seems to just be in the habit of clicking the handicap button. Evidently, this is not a common trend on many other campuses.
Some people say that chivalry is dead, but I would argue that these buttons show that is not the case. Sure, boys are not exactly opening the doors for girls, but they are not making the girls open it themselves either. What’s more romantic than when a guy re-presses the handicap button when the door is already open because he sees a girl coming in behind him and would not want it to close on her? Nothing really.
In order to participate in this up-and-coming fad, you have to be pretty familiar with each building and the specific buttons that it is equipped with. For example, once you press the button for the doors in Bannow they have a solid three-second delay before they begin to move. One may argue though that those are the heaviest doors on the campus and so it is worth the wait.
All of the entrances to the Barone Campus Center have a lot of activity. It is a rare occasion for just one person to be walking in at a time. This may make it seem like your lucky day when a huge group is going in with you. This is your chance so you don’t even have to press the button, you can just walk right in. Here is when I would like to warn you – in that situation, you must be on your guard. It would be humiliating to have the door close on your face just because you thought you were in the clear and the door was going to stay open.
One day I actually saw a girl step back when the door started to close and then walk over and press the button to open it again. She was already halfway out the door!! Even so, she felt as though it would be easier to press the button than to physically open the door herself. It didn’t even seem like she was judged by anyone around her. It appears as though this is a movement and everyone is trying to get involved.
How hard is it really to just push or pull the door? It seems like students portray this task as terribly overwhelming. I am almost surprised that when people come across a door without one of these buttons, they still know what to do and are actually capable of opening the door with little to no effort.
So the next time you press the handicap button, take a moment to consider this: Do Fairfield students make the most of what we are presented with or are we simply a lazy breed of humans?
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