Students who live in Commons West in the west portion of the building are not allowed to leave out of the closest door. Instead, they must go to the third or fourth floor, walk all the way across the building, and then back down to the first floor. Now students found walking out of the closer exit will face a $100 fine. Is this for safety purposes or is this for the university to take money from students with this excessive fine? A $20 fine would deter students from using this exit, but $100 sounds like the university trying to milk college students for their money. Also, this rule is completely unnecessary to begin with.

If a student wanted to let a guest in through that door, it would be impossible. The other doors would lock you out. Therefore, this door does not contribute to unknown people entering the building. There is no good reason why the use of this door for exiting contributes to an unsafe environment. Leaving this door allows students to get to class on time if they are running late, rather than adding an additional 3-4 minutes by having to get to the other exit. Also, this exit reduces foot traffic on the higher floors, reduces the number of students using the elevator, provides a faster route to many buildings, and is simply, more convenient. There is no need to spend extra money on more extreme security to eliminate this exit, but many reasons to make this exit accessible.