I’ve been a member of a quad fraternity for three years now and I’ve watched our beloved quad go from a thriving, fun, social haven for students sick of the ho-hum of UR life to a barren lawn where even the crickets have gone quiet from depression. I’ve watched security go from a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy to an absolutely no fun policy. I’ve even watched the university try to wean its student body off of our only holiday, D-Day.
What, pray tell, has the University replaced all these activities with? RFoC, a poster and colored flatware campaign, which is supposed to trick students into ignoring the discolored slop on their plates and focus on the decorations. Alcohol-free foam parties for the freshmen that help to distract them from the evils of the upperclassmen and the fraternities. Ten dollars of free printing – oh, wait, it used to be completely free.
The UR is situated in one of the coldest and dreariest parts of the country where the consumption of beer and fried foods are the main activities. It only seems logical that since the UR’s located in such a vibrant area it might want its students to have some sort of entertainment other than drinking vodka alone in their rooms and playing video games.
If I hadn’t joined a fraternity and met my girlfriend, I definitely would have transferred out of this school by now and I can think of five other people who would have done the same.
Of the few freshmen the administration have allowed to escape to the purported dangerous minefield of temptation that is the Fraternity Quad, I’ve already met two that are planning to transfer due to the “lameness” of this school.
Does the administration think they have curbed drinking? I sincerely hope they are not that delusional. While they have failed at lowering the rate of consumption, I think they have successfully relocated it to people’s rooms.
Instead of students drinking at fraternities where the residents know how to handle alcohol and will call MERT if needed, students drink alone in their rooms until they are wallowing in their own vomit while being treated by MERT in front of the Pit.
Anyway, my point is that either this school is severely misguided or they are trying to have a student body made up of mindless robots that wish to have no social life and can subsist purely on gray tasteless foodstuffs.
If the UR doesn’t want to suffer a severe rise in the rampant depression and apathy that already define the attitude of its students I suggest they rethink their policies and attitudes promptly.
Delahanty can be reached at ndelahanty@campustimes.org.
