Of all the myths I heard about college, students evacuating campus every weekend wasn’t one of them.
Like clockwork each Friday, the elevators dump freshmen off at the ground floor of Glades Park Towers, tugging mesh, rolling laundry hampers, duffel bags, and chunky backpacks full of textbooks and homework.
With the absence of other students, and the reasons they left brewing within me, I realize how homesick I feel – somehow, I’ve been dragged into this epidemic, too. Granted a break is necessary, but some students still habitually return for the convenience of home.
Public Management major Kerri-Ann Nesbeth says she simply likes the comfort of her own home.
“I go home for a good home-cooked meal, to see my family, sleep in my bed and watch my TV,” she says. “I control it and don’t have to worry about anyone else being affected.”
Even on Parent and Family Weekend, the trend didn’t cease. Students went home on the weekend parents were suppose to be coming to us. It’s not as if FAU hasn’t made some leaps. After all, Student Government’s Program Board – the student-funded agency that handles concerts and events on campus – did get rapper Lil Wayne to perform last month. Maybe other big weekend events should be established to change the tone.
James Tobin, former Program Board Special Events Coordinator and current SG House of Representatives Speaker, says that FAU has over 180 clubs that have weekend activities. For example, the Catholic Newman Club has mass on campus, followed by a meet and greet. Unfortunately, many students don’t know they exist.
“Weekend programming has always been a double-edged sword at FAU,” Tobin says. “There are many opportunities to do things on campus during the weekend, but most students are unaware of those events. We can all try and point the fingers around but for the most part, what we need is more advertisement of events.”
Tobin says that despite flyering of events and word of mouth, it’s the administration of FAU which is holding us back.
“It seems to me that FAU’s administration does not want us to be traditional students as they could be called but, rather, guests of the campus.”
The wrath of the campus void is not only being felt amongst freshman residents, but upperclassmen commuters as well. Alum Corinne Bowes doesn’t think that Student Government is doing their best to keep students on campus on the weekends.
“SG is not doing as much as it can for the people who don’t live here,” she says. “There are always so many things to pull you away from here. Who wouldn’t like to say they went to Orlando in the middle of the semester?”
Contrary to popular belief, though, our campus is not as devoid of things to do as people think. “It is not events that [make] our weekends fun but rather the interesting company we keep,” Tobin says. A traditional college lifestyle starts with involvement and friendship.
To combat its own suitcase-school status – the name given to other ghost town universities with characteristics like FAU – Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania introduced a specific floor for out-of-state students in residential halls. For FAU, a pre-survey of students who live in close distance and don’t plan to return home often can be done to mix up the floors.
Freshman Benjamin Klein doesn’t believe that FAU is doing enough to bring life to campus on the weekends. “I have to go out of my way to do things that I think will be entertaining… [but] we can’t be fun and entertaining every day,” Klein says.
Because the weekends usher out the social atmosphere, Klein questions the credibility of the university.
“If a campus shuts down on weekends, is it really a university or 13th grade?” Klein asks.
All in all, the university sets the tone. The locality of our school does not have to be our downfall. The heart of the university – the students – run packing and the university shuts down like a body with overly clogged arteries. We have to question if the running time of freedom is five days and if FAU is working hard enough to make us take what we pay for.
