Julia Bleckner (senior, DWA)

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As a senior about to graduate I would like to respond to Rachel Baer’s letter to the editor about Oxy not being a “happy” college. It seems to me that the only reasons for this so called “lack of happiness” are a lack of good parties and some of the dorms feel sterile.First, in response to the comment that you “heard from upperclassmen” that there used to be multiple parties…that’s rosy retrospection.. and even when there were multiple parties, the fun of it was moving from one to the other in “flash mobs” as they broke apart. Oxy’s parties have always been a joke in that sense. Let me promise you, as an upperclassmen, by at least junior year, there will be plenty of other things to do besides going to an off-campus house party, a dorm party or a dance.

Second, I wanted to alert you, and any other students with woes about the party scene, you currently live in one of the most vibrant cities in the country. Third, and most importantly, I am surprised and appalled that the requirements and indicators for “happiness” cited in your complaint are partying and fancy dorms. Certainly the Oxy community can find happiness outside of a campus party.

As a senior, currently immersed in comps, in one of the most stressful times of my life, I am very happy, and very grateful for the happiness that Occidental has provided me. Thanks to Oxy I have gotten to spend a semester in India followed by a backpacking trip through the Himalayas (no parties there, but I assure you, I was happy), a summer conducting research in Istanbul, then a semester in New York working at the United Nations (again, no college parties, but I assure you NYC somehow managed to be very fun). Over the summer I will be traveling to Rwanda with Oxy, I don’t think there will be any college parties there and I’m not sure if there will be air conditioning and card-key entry but I’m pretty sure I will be very happy. Finally, my time spent on the Oxy campus has been an opportunity to make the best friends I could have ever asked for and engagement with professors who have also become my friends, have expanded my mind and supported my academic growth throughout my 4 years of college.

I understand that freshman year classes can be dull and that the struggle to make a social life is frustrating and the size of Oxy can make that hard. But I want to assure you, as a senior to a freshman, that your discontent does not lie in the lack of parties. As you become an upperclassmen you will be in classes that are more engaging and learning can actually become fun, not work that needs to be relieved by a night of partying . . . friendships will grow so you won’t want to go to the dances anyway . . . and life will expand far beyond the beer pong table.

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