Does campus life really matter?
Campus Times
November 21, 1997
cartoon by Stephanie Lesniak
The University of La Verne is small, but it should not be a ghost town.
There are hundreds of students who attend school here, and lately there
has even been reason for them to participate in University activities.
So where are the students?
Why is the University infected with this chronic disease called apathy?
How soon until it kills all life left?
Here at the University of La Verne, we can plainly see students who
do not participate in anything at all. Just glancing back at the last two
months, we remember that Homecoming had one of the poorest attendance rates
in years, Charity Greek Week had low participation yet again and attendance
at the past few athletic events was sadly minute, also.
The women's volleyball team competed in the NCAA Division III West Region
playoffs last weekend, but only a handful of people went to support it.
Most were parents and close friends of the players. Whatever happened to
the days when herds of wildly-charged students travelled to road games to
support the team? The same question was addressed in the Campus Times
editorial board when it was determined that even editors of this paper were
not in the crowd. Isn't one of the perks of going to a small school the
chance to get involved in university life?
Where is the spirit? The hope? The respect for college life?
Perhaps a more appropriate question is, where is the responsibility?
According to the U.S. Department of Education, the University of La
Verne has the highest default rate on federal students loans of any other
four year institution in the area. This means that of all of the four-year
universities in the area, students of ULV have been the most lax in paying
back the government for the educational opportunities they received.
It seems like a pattern. Students do not take pride in the University
when they are in school and when they eventually graduate from here they
still do not. The lack of respect continues throughout the years and probably
will continue in the real world.
If basic pride and respect in education and the traditional extra-curricular
activities of college life is not important, then what else is? Students
should be proud that they are going to the University of La Verne and support
the various aspects of student life. That is how we grow and gain valuable
life experience that we will never get anywhere else other than college.
College is a short but very valuable time in one's life. It offers unique
experiences that University of La Verne students are looking beyond. These
are experiences that are going to help students grow and become well rounded.
Work. Education. Culture. Family. Tradition. Community. Future. These
are important parts of the growing process, but does anyone out there really
care about what is going on around them? Is there any hope left in the hearts
of America's youth? Does the "Generation X" and the new generation,
appropriately termed "The Lost Generation," have any priorities,
goals, intrigue or motivation? If ULV is the microcosm of society, we should
be fearful.
