It costs more to eat in Russia these days.

Moscow’s long-time inexpensive food prices are doubling. The people are confused, but the government needs to do it because they’ll go belly up without it.

Many Moscowites even refuse to believe it, but they want to believe. Higher food prices would not only decrease the length of food lines but also improve the quality and supply of food.

According to the Chicago Tribune, the Soviet Union’s “last icon (cheap food) seems about to fall.”

Guess things are changing in the ol‘ Soviet Union.

Too bad all these communist icons can’t fall at NIU. The residence hall folks insist on keeping some of them alive.

Residence hall floors all over campus are getting those nasty floor damage bills. And who’s gonna pay for it all? Everybody!

Guess how much one floor (that devoutly reads this column because the columnist lives there) has to pay this year? Almost $650!

And with the 44 or so people who live up there, that’s 15 clams a piece. That’d buy at least 44 large pizzas, 650 cups of ice tea and 325 Rolling Stone magazines.

But nooooooo. It’s $650 that has to go for fixing broken things.

Isn’t this some sort of communism? People who live their residence hall lives peacefully have to chuck out dinero to fix what the floor lunatics broke.

The needs of the many are superceeding the needs of the individual. Someone broke the mirror. Everybody needs the mirror, so everyone has to chip in to get a new one.

It’s not right. Why should anonymous floor damage—which probably accounts for most floor damage—have to be paid by everyone? Not everyone did it. It’s possible maybe only one person did it.

If a group of people went out for pizza, and one of the people didn’t eat any, should he still be expected to chip in some cash? No.

So why should someone who didn’t “eat” any floor damage have to pay for it? It makes no sense.

The thing is, many floor residents know the evildoers on their floors, but they’re afraid to tell. Why? Who knows, but it’s a shame to pay all that money for your neighbors’ problems.

Perhaps residence hall officials should begin investigating accidents further. What really goes into looking for the person who popped a hole in the wall or tore down the bulletin board?

Are there questions asked? Leads pursued? Witnesses questioned? Or is everything just fixed without a second thought?

It’s good that repairs are done. Even more, they’re done promptly and they’re done well. But no one wants to fix something they didn’t break. Can you imagine having to fork over some moolah at a pottery store because someone else’s little kid dropped a vase?

Maybe it’s time for NIU to eat the damage costs. Of course, that’ll never happen. There’s just no way out.

Oh, well. It’s all in vain, anyway. See you at the Bursar’s office.