Students in distress after property was confiscated

In my four years at Richmond, we have stolen nothing from the school, but it has stolen one thing from us: an outdoor grill. On Sunday evening, a group of fifteen friends gathered outside a UFA apartment to watch the classic Bruce Willis flick Armageddon and roast marshmallows on a wood-burning grill — a nice one, I might add.

We set up a white sheet and a projector to show the movie and sat around the grill making smores. We laughed, we joked, we had an awesome time. Around midnight, two UR police officers arrived and briefly spoke to us.

They mentioned that because it was late, they needed us to take the logs off the fire, but we could keep the embers burning. The officers were very cordial and left. We continued to watch Bruce Willis save the fate of humanity. It was a great night.

The next morning, our grill was not outside the apartment. It was stolen. Was it a drunken fraternity member who took it? Was it a jealous onlooker? Was it Ben Affleck? No, it was the RC Dean's Office. An RC official stole our grill. Upon checking his SpiderMail, the resident of the UFA apartment where the movie night had taken place had received an email. An RC official wrote that he had confiscated a "fire-pit" and had discarded it. He mentioned that the grill was "illegal" and presented "an obvious risk to the university."

We, of course, did what any Richmond student does when faced with a sanction: we checked the handbook. The fire safety code regarding grill use is vague. It says that an "open fire is not permitted on campus" but that grills are allowed on patios. Did we have an open fire? Yes. Did we have a grill on the fire? Yes. So, what's the distinction between a grill and an open fire?

If your Weber doesn't have its grill-top on, is it an open fire? The distinction's unclear. It's so unclear that the police didn't confiscate the grill when they spoke to us.

If the university had a problem with us having the grill outside the apartment, fine. The RC dean's office could have confiscated the item, called for a brief meeting with the students and given it back to its rightful owners. But instead, they took it and threw it away before anyone had woken up.

We are not trying to bash anyone. We are trying to get the grill back. If we did something wrong, sorry. We messed up. But when I park my car illegally, the ticket guy doesn't take it to the dump. He writes a ticket and I can file an appeal.

The powers at be could have confiscated the grill, then set up a meeting to discuss the issue. That would have been sensible and appropriate. That would have been treating us as adults...