Roanoke College has decided that indoor plants are a bad thing. No, really. The college hired an air quality expert, mercifully unnamed, who recommended banning potted plants in one large building to “decrease the possibility of mold and mildew.” The building contains classrooms, laboratories, offices and dorm rooms.

No mention was made of teaching students not to make piles of dirty socks, underwear and wet towels, or to throw out yesterday’s leftover pizza before it becomes last month’s petri dish, or to clean and dust their rooms periodically (more than once a year), or to clean up spills immediately, or to make sure plumbing leaks are reported and fixed promptly, or to close the windows when it’s raining, or to refrain from food fights… the list could go on for awhile.

This is classic baby-with-the-bathwater thinking. Yes, an overwatered plant can create a mold problem, albeit a small one that’s easily corrected. Odds are, however, that a potted plant in a dorm room will be underwatered to the point it becomes a fire hazard, because we know how diligent college students are about taking care of their things.

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