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What the fuck Oxy? This week I have been walking around seeing the new “advertising campaign” for room draw. One of these advertising posters takes the old Master Card advertising campaign and spins it to show how living on campus is “priceless”, while the other posters advertise that room draw this year will be a party, 80’s style. I only imagine this would be the worst party in existence, next to any Oxy dance. Clearly this statement comes out of love for our school, if not I would definitely not call it a pet name (Oxy), but really Oxy, come the fuck on.
If you have to create posters and an advertising campaign to “market” room draw and living on campus, then it is clearly because you recognize that it is not an immediately appealing idea on its own. But this idea of “marketing” staying on campus to upper-classmen is only rivaled in its stupidity by the idea of making upcoming classes of freshman stay on campus three years!
Many of us laugh at the fact that Oxy sometimes feels like high school, or worse, summer camp. Don’t get me wrong-I can get down with the whole pretending we’re in high school thing every once in a while, although at Oxy we can be wasted enough to enjoy the dance and not worry about getting breathalyzed – but to consider doing this for three years is ludicrous to me.
I understand that part of the thinking behind this new policy is that college is supposed to be a stepping stone between childhood and the real world, but there is a difference between this concept and going to a summer camp. When you force students to rely on the school to plan their social lives, create ways to experience diversity, cook their meals and even (as some of last weeks letters to the articles pointed out) clean up after their messes at the cooler, you have taken this infantalization too far.
I also understand that these ideas come from the reality of a failing economy and Oxy’s struggling endowment. The fact that Oxy doesn’t have a large endowment and the financial security that other private, older colleges such as those on the East Coast have must make things more difficult. I enjoy that Oxy is not an Amherst or a Wesleyan that has an “old money” legacy, but there must be other ways we can address this financial need.
Oxy emphasizes diversity, but why not focus on the diversity blocks outside of our campus where students can live, rather than creating programming or living situations that must recreate this diversity? If this is a matter of saving money then why don’t we utilize the resources we already have i.e. the city of Los Angeles? Sure you can experience diversity by eating fried chicken accompanied by a jazz-playing jukebox at the Marketplace, but does that really compare to having neighbors who speak another language or are a part of a different culture than you? If we are strapped for cash, why are we spending money and energy on turning room draw into an 80’s themed party, rather than what it is: a simple hour-long process to decide housing for next year? Why are we considering spending more money on putting cable in the dorms to entice students to comply with a policy that is supposed to SAVE money? Is it really necessary to have a moon bounce in the quad every semester or someone making virgin mixed drinks for us in the marketplace every Friday? Why do we need programs like the Bengal bus (not to hate on this program; it is a great idea – severely underused) when having students LIVING in Los Angeles would give them the best access to explore the city?
In conclusion, creating the “next world leaders” who aren’t even forced to pick up after their drunken mess in the cooler seems like an OXYmoron, how fitting . . .
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