The Vandal Pride we desperately miss is more of a pipe dream than a distant reality. Our disconnected campus has never perpetuated pride to be a Vandal.
Like most of you, I have been eagerly awaiting the return of football, basketball, Greek events, university events and so on and so forth. I have spent most of my days these past two semesters in my room, staring at a screen, reminiscing of times previous. If only I knew how good I had it in my first year, fall semester.
I lived in the dorms back then. 11th floor of the Theophilus Tower. I had a pretty good view, pretty good friends and did some pretty cool stuff. I have lived in Theta Chi for a year now and I can say the same. Pretty good view, pretty good friends and doing some pretty cool stuff. But is that what being a Vandal is about?
If someone asked me, “what do you like about being a Vandal?” I simply wouldn’t know what to say. I would mutter something related to Greek life, probably. First-year, I would’ve muttered something related to the residence halls. And I’m sure that when I move off campus, I will mutter something related to apartment life.
We are kidding ourselves if we truly think every student goes to the football game with the same purpose—to celebrate our team. Even during are all university events, like Homecoming, the students feel grouped and cliqued. We are not there as Vandals. We’re there as Greek members, dorm kids, or off-campus students.
I know it wasn’t always this way. Hearing alumni rave about their college years offers some bittersweet jealousy. They don’t rave about the group of students they were a part of, they rave about being a Vandal. I can only imagine what I’m missing out on.
What is the first step to mending this lost way of life? It is a total mindset change. How do you convince Greek members to hang out with residence hall students? How do you convince off-campus students to be on-campus? I truly don’t know.
We need something to rally behind, something that unites us under a common goal. Sure, if we had a football team like WSU, maybe this would be less of a problem. Maybe if we were in a bigger city, this wouldn’t be a problem. Maybe this will always be a problem.
It is something to keep in mind going forward. Think of your freshmen self. Unsure and wary of the world. Nervous with every step you took. Unwilling to branch out. Life at college is daunting at best—it’s only worse when the entire student body is disconnected. How do you make friends when you notice that half of the student body doesn’t acknowledge the other half?
This will not be an overnight change. Or a “next year” kind of thing. This probably won’t come into effect for several years. We’re here now and I’m going to do everything I can to mend those gaps. I hope everyone does the same.
I hope that I look back at my time as a Vandal with pride. Right now, I’m not sure that I will.
Carter Kolpitcke can be reached at [email protected] or @carterkolpitcke on Twitter