Recently, as many have probably noticed, swarms of students mass around the athletic halfway doors in the hopes that they may just get in. This is because of the new policy that prohibits non-athletes from using the athletic hallway as a shortcut. The new rule is unnecessary and irritating to a large portion of our student body.

The policy has posed a problem for many students. The same morning that the new hallway rule was announced, it was also revealed that tardies would become more of a serious issue, and that the administration would be cracking down on lateness. With the simultaneous removal of the athletic hallway as a widely used shortcut, this was both ironic and amusing: students had to walk all the way around the building to get to and from portables, but they’d better not be late!

In order to enforce the new rule, the doors became locked instead of open, and coaches were supposed to stand outside them to let athletes in for class. So essentially, only athletes are allowed into the hallway. However, when it came to actually letting those athletes in, the coaches only let in athletes they were familiar with, and couldn’t always accurately let in all players. For example, Kenzi McElroy ‘24 was injured and on the volleyball team, yet she wasn’t allowed through the hallway to get to her portable classes; she was forced to go all the way around the school on crutches. McElroy said that even though she asked the coaches if they could let her through, they just flat out said no despite the fact that she’s in volleyball.

It’s discouraging to constantly see kids waiting outside the doors to maybe, just maybe, get in. Kids are constantly banging on doors to see if someone charitable will open them. How is this fair?

Despite the fact that perhaps the rule is necessary for the convenience of athletes and the safety of their personal items, it’s not for the rest of us. This rule comes along with a string of many new ones that the administration is pushing for. We have to stop enforcing rules like this that punish those who have done nothing wrong. It’s unfair to put this onto everyone if the problem lies with only a few individuals. It would be more logical to lock the actual athletic doors or locker rooms, not the entire hallway. Westwood is firstly, at its core, a place of education. It’s not fair to lose class time and get a tardy over something like this.

My freshman year at this school was a good one. I saw friends in the hallways and always stopped to chat. I used the bathroom stalls as confessionals, and was on time to class. Now it feels so different. If a monitor sees two pairs of feet in a stall, you get yelled at or scolded, if you are in the hallways with a friend, and god forbid without a pass, it’s the same. We should do better as a school to make Westwood a place of not only education, but also an environment where students feel comfortable and not persecuted. We can do better. We need to stop the excess rules and reopen the hallways to all immediately.