Have you seen our spirit rock near Ashley Hall?
Week after week, it is bombarded with different colors, but the same style: crap. You can’t read what’s on it most of the time and the decorators come back with more paint on them than the rock.
Then, one day, I woke up and was on my way to class when I saw the rock in quite possibly the nicest account it’s ever been in. The one problem with it? It had been decorated by the University of Toledo in a case of vandalism. But it was utterly undeniable that the rock had not looked so good since I’ve been here.
Our traditions and symbols of spirit are on a downward spiral to nowhere. It seems as if students have become so fixated on other things that we throw things together poorly. In other cases, students honestly don’t care what happens to the University. This philosophy is manifesting itself into a constant behavior that is familiar to many college students here on campus: eat, sleep, go to class (occasionally) and party.
In essence, Bowling Green State University means nothing to them. It’s not a home away from home, it’s not offering them anything than a degree — it’s a learning institution in northwest Ohio where they “have” to spend around four years. Weird, huh?
Let’s look at a different example. Our varsity football team had a spectacular season last fall, ranking amongst teams in polls nationwide. The recognition brought out an influx of fair-weather fans who wanted to join in the excitement of a winning season.
“Fair” enough, I suppose. But what happened when the Falcons lost back-to-back games at Northern Illinois and South Florida? Suddenly, the fans didn’t really care what happened any more and they were nowhere to be seen. This became painfully evident in our win over Eastern Michigan University — the stands were ridiculously empty and people found “alternate” weekend plans.
On the other hand, Ohio State had a fantastic season. Good for them, I guess. I don’t go to OSU, so I don’t care what happens to them. Their win over the University of Michigan was a good game and I appreciated them for that. But what will happen next year when we go down to Columbus to take them on head-to-head?
Already I’ve heard people comment on how they’ll be wearing the red and gray, cheering the Buckeyes on to another perfect season. (I mean, do we have to be sacrificial lambs in support of a competitive university, right? Sick!)
How can you sit in your apartment or your residence hall and not care? Most likely, you are paying five-digit numbers a semester to attend the University. That number includes large fees that pay for organization operations, such as UAO and USG, which both need huge membership numbers to operate. These groups, among others, are here to serve you. Why not get involved with something like that? You’re paying for it!
The biggest problem our entire University faces is a sense of tradition. What are you going to take from your experience here? Remembering to walk to the right of the University seal? (Or is the left?) We have so few non-superstitious traditions and that makes it easy for University presidents to change our school around without worrying about too many customs.
It’s time for us to get up and do something. Let’s start an annual parade, throw an annual ball or have some crazy annual party! The funniest thing is that the administration would probably love it, too! Who wouldn’t? Maybe we’ll even be able to solve the mystery of is there really a President Ribeau?
Ultimately, our University is more than paper, projects and tests. We have more than 300 organizations here on campus, flourishing sporting teams and so many different ways to get involved. We’ve all learned that college is an experience that is encountered, for the most part, outside of the classroom. So do it. Go out there, capture the spirit that is Bowling Green State University and have fun!
