A maid service for college dormatories has some Harvard students lamenting the evils of American capitalism. You see, not everyone can afford to pay for maid service, so some students think the services shouldn't be offered at all.

a new student service is sweeping onto campus. Dormaid, founded by Michael E. Kopko '07, is a cleaning service that allows students to avoid the perennial problem of dingy, smutty, questionably-habitable rooms. But as appealing as the thought of a perpetually tidy room may be, (independent of family visits), Dormaid could potentially mess up as many rooms as it cleans. By creating yet another differential between the haves and have-nots on campus, Dormaid threatens our student unity.

There are already plenty of services at Harvard that sharpen the differences between socioeconomic classes. Harvard Student Agency Cleaners, for example, lets some students pick up clean and neatly-folded clothes in crackling plastic bags. The less well-off among us, however, make semi-weekly journeys to the basement with bulging mesh laundry bags and quarters in hand. These differences extend to the social sphere as well-to final clubs composed predominately of wealthy young men, or to basic activities, like eating out, that some students cannot afford to enjoy. But while class differences are a fact of life-yes, there are both rich and poor people at Harvard-there is no reason to exacerbate these differences further with a room-cleaning service.

Dorm life is one of the few common experiences left that all students, regardless of class or background, have to endure with a measure of equality. The egalitarian nature of dorm life helps to foster a sense of collegiate camaraderie, an unadulterated respect for peers; it generates a level playing field that encourages learning between people of all upbringings. A service like Dormaid can bring many levels of awkwardness into this picture. . .Hiring someone to clean dorm rooms is a convenience, but it is also an obvious display of wealth that would establish a perceived, if unspoken, barrier between students of different economic means.

It's hard to imagine students of an expensive Ivy League school concerned about an obvious display of wealth. Perhaps we should outlaw places like Harvard, that only serve to exacerbate the differences between the haves and the have-nots.

(Hat tip to John Hawkins)