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.
Cool post. That is an interesting fact that back in the 60s and 70s they were struggling just as much to stay in college because of too much socialization. I feel IPFW has no emphasis on socializing much and it is up to the individual to go out on their own to do it. Maybe it's good for school work getting done. I know for me though, I tend to party more knowing that there is no shit going on on campus hardly ever.
ReplyDeleteI love the Tom Petty quote, great post.
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