Life for most freshmen on this campus is relatively straightforward: You live with a roommate you probably don't know, you dodge the watchful eyes of your resident assistant, you take your freshman English and CORE classes and you revel in your newfound, parentless freedom as much as possible.
And there's a good chance you're part of a living-learning program, such as Honors, College Park Scholars, Gemstone or CIVICUS, all of which cluster residents together in dorms throughout the campus. These groups claim to bring students together in a quest for friendship, cultural awareness and higher education.
But let's be real: Without living-learning programs, would students really be incapable of forming their own relationships or pursuing academic success? How much hand-holding must the Department of Resident Life really do to create a rightful place for everyone? And how many students are actually interested?
Derby Cox's Monday story, "Few residents attend living-learning meeting," described how Resident Life is developing a program, to be piloted in Easton Hall, that would encourage "students to connect with one another," according to Resident Life Associate Director Amy Martin. The department hopes to bring 200 to 300 students across the Denton Community together within the next five years for programs that are "small in nature." "We're not looking to do large-scale programs or large-scale lectures," Martin added.
Number of students who came to the meeting: about 20.
Number of initiatives Resident Life could be pursuing instead: probably a lot.
Instead of manufacturing a sense of closeness between students who would likely develop it on their own, why not concentrate the department's efforts on more important endeavors, such as making sure students feel safe in the dorms where they study, sleep, eat and spend at least the first two years of their collegiate lives?
Also in Monday's issue of The Diamondback was a story by Michael Lemaire, "SGA, RHA plan dormitory walk throughs," which described how the Student Government Association and Residence Hall Association plan to walk through dorms on the campus and hear from students about problems often found in their buildings. Similar to the Safety Walk held each year around the campus, the walk-throughs would highlight issues students have in the places where they're doing all that living and learning that fills Resident Life with pride.
Before the department launches a misguided program that will bring together students who simply don't seem that interested, it should first focus on making those same students feel safe. Partnering with the SGA and RHA on those walk-throughs would be a good first step, as would be organizing campus-wide forums inviting students to talk about the areas of the dorms where the light's always broken or the window never locks or the door doesn't close all the way.
Living and learning is all well and good, but safety - especially in light of the home invasion at Leonardtown last week and the Peeping Tom in Hagerstown Hall last year - should always be Resident Life's first priority.
Be the first to comment on this article!