University Graduates from RAD Wall of Shame to FAME!
Wow! RAD receives so many text, emails, and messages every year in the late summer and early fall as students and parents are preparing for the big move-in to their residence hall room that will become their home for the year. And each and every year I receive submissions for our Rail Against the Danger “Wall of Fame/Wall of Shame” feature as move-ins begin. Families are either thrilled to find their student’s bunk or loft with a safety rail already in place or they are scrambling to find something…ANYTHING…to prevent a potentially catastrophic injury from falling out of their bed and plummeting to a concrete floor. All too often, the parents are ridiculed for even asking about safety rails. This is unfortunate, because I think anyone can agree that sleeping 6-7 feet off of the ground without any type of barrier to prevent a fall might not be the BEST idea we have come up with. And who owns these beds? The universities do! And, I might add, they are charging you a pretty penny to use them as well.
Well, THIS year for the very first time I received a notification from a parent asking me to put James Madison University in Virginia on our Wall of Fame. The school name rang a bell and I looked at our list to find JMU on our Wall of Shame since 2017! I replied to the parent and asked them what had changed. I also reached out to the Housing department at JMU and had a nice email exchange with Holmes Browne who has been at JMU since the late 90’s. I asked him several questions regarding what precipitated the changes at their school. Turns out it wasn’t an accident or injury involving a JMU student (thank GOD!) but was just a trending increase in requests for rails and the realization that loft beds were becoming standard issue. Mr. Browne shared that not only are the rails offered free of charge, if the student requests them two weeks or more prior to move-in the staff will have them already installed on the bunk or loft.
JMU not only featured how to get a safety rail on their website, they also did some social media campaigns urging students to protect themselves with a rail if they were planning on lofting. The manufacturer of the student furniture also deserves a shout-out since they even have stickers ON the bed explaining the fall risk involved. So, thank you Savoy Furniture for showing how it should be done!
And kudos to James Madison for reversing their earlier policies and as Holmes said, “Thanks for reaching out and we appreciate you moving JMU to the honorable side of your website.”
Do YOU know a school who belongs on our Wall of Fame or Shame? Let us know!
Have a great school year and sleep safe!