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Writer's Block: School Ties
Feb. 3rd, 2012 08:47 pm[Error: unknown template qotd]
I think most people who have been reading this journal know that I majored in English Literature when I was in college. At the time, this was actually considered something useful, because the thinking was that you could fit yourself into any potential job situation and utilize your experiences to help you, no matter what you were doing. And I feel like that was true, generally.
In my case, I think I made even better use of the extra-curriculars I did than my major, at least in the beginning of my career. While at school I got to be a disc jockey on the campus station and that helped because I eventually went on to be a DJ at night clubs in New York and a couple of other places. I got to be president of Cap & Dagger, which was our acting group on campus, and of course I got to use those skills in several ways, eventually, along with juggling, which I helped teach as an undergrad, and those skills combined may have helped lead me to Clown College.
And, of course, I wrote a column for The Bucknellian called "The Dean's Office," where I would write essays about stuff that affected the students on campus in various ways. Sort of like what you're reading right here!
The most memorable of those essays (and to my mind, the only one worth remembering) talked about the diversity (or really lack of) on my campus, and it was based on a comment I read on the door of a stall in the bathroom of an academic building. Someone wrote that "Bucknell won't truly be a great university until it becomes more diverse." The response some other guy scrawled beneath it suggested that this was an impossibility.
I turned the comment to a challenge our college community to think a little bit more about what was going on with minorities and how some students perceived people that weren't just like they were. It was, arguably, my first ever "thinkpost" in an official capacity (I had previously written a letter to the editor about gun control). And it generated a considerable amount of attention from my fellow students, faculty and even the administration.
Recently, there has been a re-examination of the concept of diversity and the student body and how deeply entrenched the Greek system is for Bucknell. It is difficult. Lewisburg, PA is a beautiful area (a bit less beautiful since a lot of the farmland has been overrun with mall sprawl in the past several years), but there is nothing of note happening there! There are no social options except the Fraternities and Sororities. And if you aren't a member of those organizations, there are even fewer options. Of course, twenty-one is the drinking age anyhow, so it isn't as though there's a lot to do as far as partying. And it's not like Lewisburg is close to either Pittsburgh or Philadelphia... it's not even that close to Harrisburg (that hot bed of activity). So even driving somewhere is a difficult proposition.
Really, nothing has changed; the problems that existed when I was an undergrad are still the same and the same responses are the ones that people in charge are trotting out as a solution. Cut back on the Greek system is always the initial thought. I suspect the same issues will always be in place. Diversity only occurs when it is welcome. And when it is manipulated to happen, it never lasts because the energy required to continue to make that system work will eventually end.
I should mention I nearly minored in Psychology. But that's another story for another time.
I think most people who have been reading this journal know that I majored in English Literature when I was in college. At the time, this was actually considered something useful, because the thinking was that you could fit yourself into any potential job situation and utilize your experiences to help you, no matter what you were doing. And I feel like that was true, generally.
In my case, I think I made even better use of the extra-curriculars I did than my major, at least in the beginning of my career. While at school I got to be a disc jockey on the campus station and that helped because I eventually went on to be a DJ at night clubs in New York and a couple of other places. I got to be president of Cap & Dagger, which was our acting group on campus, and of course I got to use those skills in several ways, eventually, along with juggling, which I helped teach as an undergrad, and those skills combined may have helped lead me to Clown College.
And, of course, I wrote a column for The Bucknellian called "The Dean's Office," where I would write essays about stuff that affected the students on campus in various ways. Sort of like what you're reading right here!
The most memorable of those essays (and to my mind, the only one worth remembering) talked about the diversity (or really lack of) on my campus, and it was based on a comment I read on the door of a stall in the bathroom of an academic building. Someone wrote that "Bucknell won't truly be a great university until it becomes more diverse." The response some other guy scrawled beneath it suggested that this was an impossibility.
I turned the comment to a challenge our college community to think a little bit more about what was going on with minorities and how some students perceived people that weren't just like they were. It was, arguably, my first ever "thinkpost" in an official capacity (I had previously written a letter to the editor about gun control). And it generated a considerable amount of attention from my fellow students, faculty and even the administration.
Recently, there has been a re-examination of the concept of diversity and the student body and how deeply entrenched the Greek system is for Bucknell. It is difficult. Lewisburg, PA is a beautiful area (a bit less beautiful since a lot of the farmland has been overrun with mall sprawl in the past several years), but there is nothing of note happening there! There are no social options except the Fraternities and Sororities. And if you aren't a member of those organizations, there are even fewer options. Of course, twenty-one is the drinking age anyhow, so it isn't as though there's a lot to do as far as partying. And it's not like Lewisburg is close to either Pittsburgh or Philadelphia... it's not even that close to Harrisburg (that hot bed of activity). So even driving somewhere is a difficult proposition.
Really, nothing has changed; the problems that existed when I was an undergrad are still the same and the same responses are the ones that people in charge are trotting out as a solution. Cut back on the Greek system is always the initial thought. I suspect the same issues will always be in place. Diversity only occurs when it is welcome. And when it is manipulated to happen, it never lasts because the energy required to continue to make that system work will eventually end.
I should mention I nearly minored in Psychology. But that's another story for another time.