IPFW: Make a Tradition, Gain Interest in College Life

The quality and often times quantity of college life typically surrounds tradition.
Over 39,000 people attend Purdue's yearly Spring Fest, and education and socialization combine for the Grand Prix that's been a tradition for over 50 years.
At Indiana University-Bloomington, the Little 500 bike race has had famous attendees like musician John Mellencamp, talk show host David Letterman and President Barack Obama among the 25,000+ other visitors and participants.
Not to mention IU is one of the top 10 college sports towns and Purdue is part of the Big Ten conference.
But, what traditions does IPFW, a combination of Purdue and IU, have? IPFW is technically a commuter college, though it seems to only keep that title as an excuse for not creating long-standing traditions and holding annual events that attract thousands, considering there are over 14,000 students enrolled, multiple new dorm buildings, apartment complexes and area businesses that cater to college students near by.
It's time to change that lack of enthusiasm for the campus. It's time to make traditions, begin to connect -- without a lecture -- to the surrounding community and attract the people and publicity that a school of its size deserves. The smoke huts shouldn't be the only places on campus to connect with people.

Local Media Spotlights Smoke Huts

Newschannel 15 covered the IPFW smoke huts for a story regarding smoking bans. In the story, hutters were interviewed and the first thing brought up was none other than socialization.

"Well, a lot of times I come out here just to socialize with some of my fellow classmates that I might not see during the course of the day,
"We sit back and talk about hot topics," Michael McCoy told Wane.

Though the story focused on bans, the coverage didn't call out anything that needed to be changed; rather, Wane announced that IPFW's smoking policy worked just fine.

IPFW: campus smoking policy works fine: wane.com

Lonesome on Campus: A Preview

Tom Petty said one thing that’s really important for IPFW students to hear:

"You have four years to be irresponsible here. Relax. Work is for people with jobs. You’ll never remember class time, but you’ll remember time you wasted hanging out with your friends. So, stay out late. Go out on a Tuesday with your friends when you have a paper due Wednesday. Spend money you don’t have. Drink ‘til sunrise. The work never ends, but college does…"

Being a non-traditional college, IPFW doesn’t get a lot of people who, frankly, aren’t studious -- people who want to go wander around town with their friends, drink and party to their degrees. Or, maybe we just can’t cater to their wants.
Keith Seitz, a student from the 1960-1970s, told The Communicator that “issues facing students today are the same as those existent when he attended.”*
Seitz said there were problems with parking, food options and one that we don’t have any more: socialization. No, there wasn’t a lack of it -- it was in abundance. He said there were many people who were flunking out because everyone would just hangout together and skip their classes to play cards, football, etc., with friends. Finally, he said many people would hang out on campus all day, because it was a fun place to be.
IPFW was still a commuter college at that time, and now it has added dorms and about 14,000 students. Yet, if students aren’t getting free food, many seem to pass up any social life on campus for alone time in their dorms or driving back home.
Given, the city surrounding and the layout of a school that was planned for being perfect for commuters, times have changed and students aren’t getting the socialization that is known as college.
Except for the huts. Conversations, card games, study sessions, debates, insane arguments and other such fun happens hourly in each one, doing its small part toward creating a college life for all tuition-payers.

*Editing errors in The Communicator's issue turned socialization into a lack thereof. Seitz had meant too much socialization.

Want to be Remembered? Light Up.

Politicians have been known to go door-to-door to let voters know they're real people who care about connecting with communities. Those who do so are usually seen in a better light and can gain votes just because they took the time to talk. Likewise, national politicians have paid visits to small towns and reached hands out to regular Joes.
This past week on campus was Spring Fling, which consisted of a ton of free food and an outburst of student government campaigns.
Most of the candidates for various student government positions stayed near the food and voting areas, only talking to those who were already planning on voting. One, however, made his way to the smoke huts just to talk.
He carried his campaign fliers and a pack of cigarettes, just making conversation with those inside and letting them know a little about himself and the others running alongside him. He got shot down a few times by people who were dead set on not voting, but he gained a few supporters in his efforts as well.

In the social media age, many brand themselves by friending people on Facebook, creating an online presence or tweeting about their plans. Fliers are posted, food is given away and chalk is used to cover sidewalks in candidate names, but the way to really be remembered is to make others feel like they know you. You aren't just a name, a flier or a "friend" on Facebook, you're a real person. And you talk to the smokers in the huts.

I Like My Cigarettes with Silence

Brendan Kelly, lead singer of The Lawrence Arms, keeps a blog titled "Bad Sandwich Chronicles," where he typically goes through his -- usually humorous -- thoughts each day. This post, however, relates entirely to the smoke hut's atmosphere.
While the smoke huts generally seem uplifting and full of life, there are times when no words are spoken. Sometimes not even eye contact occurs.
Usually, that type of atmosphere is foreseeable: if a group of people are already inside and no one is talking or facing eachother, social forces may lead the next few that wander in to stand in silence as well. Or, if someone's alone in the hut and another walks in without making eye contact or saying hello, it's a pretty good sign that they aren't in the deep, life-altering conversation kind of mood.
Among the most awkward of all situations that come up in the huts, though, would be the failed communication. When those social forces create a challenge of sorts to create a conversation, so one smoker tries to start something up by making a small comment:
"Man, it's freezing out here."
And, despite the fact that it's obviously a plee of silence-induced anxiety, the only response basically ends conversation completely:
"Yeah."
There's no way to be sure what runs through the minds of those who don't talk -- they could just be anti-social, shy or deep in thought -- but many people take instances like that to be mean.
Brittany, for instance, commented on an earlier post and said she was "shunned" when trying to say hello to a hutter recently.
"Perhaps you could talk about the rude hut visitors," she said.
Back to Kelly's post, he wrote that his tastes were changing -- he used to enjoy random conversation with strangers but over the years found that it was less enjoyable.
"This doesn't mean that I hate my friends or that I've never met anyone nice and good out there," Kelly said. "It's just that for the most part, the whole 'interacting with strangers' thing is irritating and so I've just decided, sort of unconsciously until this very moment of articulation, to avoid it."

Is small-talk with a stranger something that is irritating to you, or do you delve into the interaction no matter how pointless?

Smoke Break: The Meet and Greet

The below video is interesting, as it shows how blatantly smoke breaks are tools for conversation. Made by chatmattandrob, who have their own Web site, the video shows two men who are obviously not smokers lighting up with hopes of breaking the ice with a lady. They finish their first set of cigarettes, and go for another -- though one of them smokes two at once -- to prolong the experience and have more time. It seems to illustrate the fear that conversation would end should the smoking halt.



So what about you: would you go to this great a length just to talk to someone you hope to know?

Meet Tyler

Tyler, a smoke hut regular, is the kind of guy that will talk about absolutely anything. Whether conversation revolves around the prospect of finding a dead baby inside a trash can, sexual innuendo or beastiality, he will chime in and add a bit of interesting commentary.
Often times, people will enter the hut with ear buds or headphones connected to mp3 players. Those are the ones who stop between classes and don't want to talk -- though it isn't uncommon for a bud to drop or headphone to slide to the side in order to listen in on whatever Tyler throws out for speculation.
Of course, the topics are mainly just for entertainment purposes; however they show the power of shock value and hilarity in what is typically obscenity.
While Tyler uses his conversationalist trait in the smoke hut often, he is also able to use it away from them, away from cigarettes, and away from people he has personal relationships with. Conversationalists can bring the very essence of the smoke hut with them anywhere and can successfully engage people in small talk of any nature -- a rarity in modern characteristics.

Appropriately, in the words of the late Hunter S. Thompson, he is "too weird to live, and too rare to die."