I had a crush on this girl all through my first year at Brandeis. One bright Tuesday morning, we crossed paths near the science quad. She gave me a half-smile and my prospects for a stop-and-chat looked good. Then, her face turned sour. She had spotted the bright blue laundry bag strung around my shoulder-and any chance of a relationship was quashed.
I am coming out of the closet, kind of literally: I participate in the laundry service provided by the Student Service Bureau. But I am sick of the discrimination that we "blue-baggers" experience. The whispers and the giggles when we walk across campus lugging our dirty underwear are not appreciated. Why do I get the laundry service? Am I that lazy, incompetent, or spoiled? We blue-baggers do it for a variety of reasons. Some of us get the service because our mothers do not trust us to wash our expensive clothes. Some of us have the money for it and simply do not want the hassle of doing our own laundry. Regardless of why we have it, we do recognize that we are lucky to have the privilege, especially when some students can hardly afford their meal plans.

We feel a pang of guilt, but when we look at the alternative-using the laundry machines in those smelly basements-we cringe. For those of you who have to go through the hassle of broken machines, planning your day around the wash cycles, worrying about people stealing your clothes and scraping your desk for quarters, we are not envious. For all our tuition costs, it is a shame that the laundry service isn't provided to all students.

But, overall, we are the same as you, save our laundry. It doesn't mean that we should be jeered-or turned down for dates-simply because of te blue bag. Plus, if you are going to make fun of us for the laundry service, wait until you see what is coming next. After all, it could be much worse.

A new cleaning service called DormAid was recently introduced at Harvard University. The student-run service, which contracts a professional cleaning service, will send workers to vacuum, dust and tidy up dorm rooms. The New York Times mentioned that one such cleaning could cost over $85, including a chocolate truffle left on the furniture. Boston University, Princeton University and other colleges have offered the system, which costs a minimum of about $18 per roommate per cleaning.

The backlash to the service has been fiercer than the anti-blue bag sentiment at Brandeis. Articles in The Harvard Crimson have vehemently condemned the service, citing how economic disparity can differentiate who can have the service and from those who cannot, and citing a general anger at students' laziness.

Could Brandeis be DormAid's next stop? It doesn't seem like a horrible idea. After a weekend of severe partying, there would be nothing like a fresh start to the week. Just like what occurs with the laundry service, there are plenty of mothers that would finance a cleaning service to make sure their children are living healthy lifestyles.

What does it say about college kids when we would consider employing a cleaning service for our dorm rooms? It says that we waste money. The laundry service here is $375 per year for a weekly wash, dry and fold service. There are different options, and the most expensive one is $595 per year, which includes dry cleaning. Since when do college students need dry cleaning?

It also says that we have fallen quite a ways from our parents, who had to climb uphill both ways just to get a vacuum cleaner. But they are the ones who have spoiled and pampered us. One can partially blame overbearing parents for the popularity of these services and the downfall of self-sufficiency.

The positive aspect is that students can live cleaner lifestyles with these services, where there will always be clean rooms and clean clothes. These are good ideas, leaving more time for studying and, considering the damage wrought by those hideous blue bags, more time for repairing social lives.