The Etownian >> Opinion
Looking back: Flaws and strengths of the Elizabethtown experience
Thursday May 06 2010
In just a couple weeks, I will be saying farewell to the place that I’ve called home for four years. In my time at Elizabethtown College, I have had the best times of my life as well as the worst. I have laughed the hardest I ever have and also cried harder. I’ve made some great friends, and I’ve met people whose voices I hope to never hear again. There are so many things that I love about Etown, yet there are so many things that need some serious work.I’m sure I’m not alone when I say that I remember upperclassmen boasting about how great it was when Dashboard Confessional and Third Eye Blind came to Etown. Every year we were told that we didn’t have the money, but we would get a big one the next year. It never happened. In last week’s issue of the Etownian, Dean Calenda was quoted as saying that one idea for a senior night would be to take students to a concert at another school. That’s like conceding victory to other colleges that their entertainment is better than ours.
Serious changes need to be made in certain administrative departments.
As a sophomore, my roommate did not return for the second semester. They ended up changing my locks with no warning. I had to get a new key and was late for my next class. Thanks. I had a single for a while, until someone came up to me and said he was moving in. Residence Life never once asked if this was okay.
Let’s move on to the off campus housing policy. As a rising junior, I applied to be released from my housing contract and was denied. As a result, I declared that I would be commuting. Sure, I live an hour and 15 minutes away, but who is to say that I can’t commute from home? Sure, I ended up renting a place in Etown, but that’s a technicality. Furthermore, students who were initially denied a release from their housing contract were informed in the summer that they could move off campus. I understand the need to keep students on campus. It is part of our strategy to make sure that we get the best students possible. If everyone moved off campus, we would have to accept more, less-qualified students who bring down the reputation of the school (see this year’s freshman class).
However, Res. Life needs to be more consistent. One idea is to make it an actual application process. Have students maybe write an essay or sit through an interview. That would ensure that there are qualifications, and students would know whether or not they meet the criteria.
Something that may help these situations is perhaps a change in administration. While I don’t have access to certain administrators’ résumés or records of previous employment, I have seen a few. One which I have come across is our Interim Director of Student Rights and Responsibilities. According to her LinkedIn account, she has had zero experience working at a college. She has held two previous jobs as a curator. How does that make her qualified to deal with college students? This lifts my spirits a little bit. If a curator can land a job as a college administrator, an English major can surely get an accounting job.
My final gripes include Student Senate, wireless Internet and a field house.
My issue with Student Senate is not the people in it or what they do. I genuinely believe that the majority of those in Senate care about Etown and the students they represent and that they try hard to advocate for student rights. However, I don’t believe that the administration takes them seriously at all. It’s hard for Senate to get anything done when they have no actual power.
The fact that the entire campus is not completely wireless is unbelievable. When I was looking at colleges, almost every school I looked at was wireless. Four years later, the ECTV and WWEC board of directors chip in their own money to have a secret and illegal wireless router installed in Steinman.
Someone needs to build a field house. The fact that our soccer, baseball and lacrosse teams have to practice on the same floor where our varsity basketball team plays their games is absurd. I could get into the fact that our track team has won six of the last eight indoor conference championships, despite not having an indoor track, but I won’t.
For every complaint, I have a lot of amazing things to say about this school.
The Peer Mentors are people who put everything else they do (and many of them do more than you can fathom) to the side while they help the first-year students adapt.
The same can be said for my track family. I’ve been on a lot of teams in a lot of sports, but never have I had so many brothers who would literally do anything to help their teammates. I have learned more about life from my coach and teammates than I could ever explain.
I’ve had great experiences in the classroom as well. Every single faculty member in the English department could and should be at huge institutions. With doctorate degrees from schools like UCLA, Michigan, Michigan State, Yale, Harvard, and Oxford, they are incredibly brilliant. More importantly, they stay at Etown because they would much rather sit around and talk literature with 10 students who they have gotten to know very well than lecture in front of 100 people.
I had only met Dr. Martin, the department chair, once or twice when I had a scheduling snafu. I rushed to his office, and he told me to come on in so we could talk. Ten minutes later, we had figured out the issue and determined that I would, in fact, be able to graduate in May. I realized he had more important issues to deal with, but he was more than willing to help.
I have noticed this as a common theme throughout the majority of this campus. Many times I have gone up to students, professors and office staff asking for assistance, and I was greeted by someone eager to help me.
I will always have a place in my heart for Etown. But man, there are things that need to change. AND FIX THE DAMN LEAK IN NICARRY!
The Etownian >> Opinion