Finding Happiness is in the Student Body’s Hands

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Author: Alex Zeldin

The Daily Beast ranked Occidental seventh overall, as opposed to last year, where Occidental ranked 12th. While publicity of this sort is certainly worthy of celebration, students and administrators should not hang their hats on this ranking, but rather use it as an opportunity to assess the quality of student life in order to seek the number one spot.

In the list of the top 40 happiest colleges, Occidental finished in the bottom six when it came to the freshman retention rate. Additionally, Occidental finished in the bottom seven among the top 30 happiest colleges when it came to the number of student clubs and organizations on campus.

One reason Occidental was ranked seventh overall is based on the category of total number of sunny days during the academic year. While this is definitely a good reason why students should be happier at Occidental than other places, it is a factor that cannot be attributed to the policies of administrators. In fact, because Occidental has the distinct advantage of perfect weather year-round, there is no reason why it cannot be closer to number one overall.

What can be attributed to Occidental’s policies is the fact that the school dropped from an A+ nightlife rating in 2010 to a B+ ranking in 2011. This was also the same year Occidental’s alcohol policies became much stricter and off-campus social gatherings began to come under more intense scrutiny. That negative change easily reversible as long as the college reevaluates its attitude toward student social events and alcohol consumption. Although this policy change is not solely responsible for the drop in nightlife rating, it is an example of a situation where the administration has had a role in changing students’ lifestyles.

The shortcomings Occidental may have, however, and its relatively low freshman retention rate cannot solely be blamed on the administration. Students must ask themselves why they are unhappy and make positive contributions to the community in order to improve the morale of the student body across the board.

Occidental finished in the bottom seven in terms of the number of student clubs and organizations on campus among the top 30 happiest schools. While Occidental is a small school and stands no chance of having more clubs than a school like Yale, it still scored relatively low, even among other small schools. In 2010, Occidental had 105 clubs/organizations. By contrast, Haverford College in Pennsylvania, a school of only 1100 students, had 144 clubs/organizations. If students are unhappy at Occidental, banding together to create a more diverse offering of clubs could have a profound effect.  

Many clubs at Occidental are based around social justice initiatives, rather than being centered on activities of pure leisure. Other schools feature cigar-smoking clubs, bowling clubs and miniature golf clubs. That is not to say there are too many clubs that promote social justice, but that complementing them with leisure clubs may contribute to a greater sense of happiness among students.

To give Occidental credit where credit is due, the school improved in two categories from a year ago. Campus Dining improved from a B+ to an A-, and the average graduate indebtedness fell from $20,381 to $17,561, although that can possibly be attributed to the school accepting fewer students who require need based financial aid.

Occidental College has a distinct advantage over other colleges when it comes to happiness.  The weather is beautiful, the campus is aesthetically pleasing and the food is delicious relative to other schools. Students and the administration have the ability to make the changes necessary to catapault Occidental to the number one spot. With a few minor improvements in attitude and increased student involvement, as well as more support from the administration, there is no reason Occidental cannot be the happiest school in America.

Alex Zeldin is a senior AHVA major. He can be reached at zeldin@oxy.edu

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