Thomas KummerDid you have fun in your first week of school? Did you revel in how fun it is when there’s so many people enjoying themselves in Quad? Did you feel like you’re finally getting the university experience that movies and television promised you? If you answered yes to any of these, congratulations. Because you probably won’t feel like the campus is a big happy family again until next year’s orientation festivities.
Yes, the Week of Welcome tents have been packed up, there’s no longer a beer garden in Quad and the libraries are starting to fill with people actually studying. But you might not even notice the number of people hanging out in Rutherford or Cameron Libraries, because statistically, you probably live off campus.
The U of A Residence Services report that this fall, they are housing 4,146 students in university residences (not including Michener Park or Augustana Campus). Out of the 35,052 students that the university headcount reported for fall registration in 2014, that means roughly 11 per cent of students live on campus.
The University of Alberta is a commuter campus. You can argue that there’s a thriving Greek scene and that student clubs are popular, but the reality is that 89 per cent of students spend only the amount of time that their classes require on campus. Go to three classes, maybe a lab, and then jump on a bus home. While a home-cooked dinner every night would be nice, does it outweigh the fact that the only part of campus you’re seeing is the basement of the Tory Building or the windowless Chemistry labs?
To be fair, the U of A gets sucked into commuter culture because it’s in a big city. I spent my first year at the University of Lethbridge. The City of Lethbridge is a pretty small city, and the university is flanked by a coulee on one side and a huge residential area on the other. Even if you didn’t live on campus, it was easy to find cheap housing less than a twenty minute walk from school. Because of this, it was super easy to get on and off campus, meaning tons of people hung out at the school on weekends for meetings, studying, or just to chill. Couple this with the fact that the Student’s Union frequently hosted “hall party” events at the campus bar with massive turnouts because seemingly everyone was within walking distance, and you had a thriving campus community.
Granted, having this warm fuzzy feeling about your school is tough in a place like Edmonton when the university is not in an affordable part of town, and almost anywhere with student-priced rent in the city has less-than ideal transit for getting to and from school. And chances are that the people who can live near the school have to work to afford the exorbitant rent costs, allowing for even less time spent on campus.
So is it possible to get out of the commuter campus vibe? Yes. But it’s entirely up to the students to motivate themselves to solve the problem.
Any complaints of the university being an unwelcoming place are certainly valid, but if you find yourself locked in “the U of A is not a friendly place” mindset, you are the only person who can bring yourself out of it. It can be daunting once clubs fair is over and all clubs essentially fade into obscurity, but it is possible.
If you’re desperate to meet new people, a student club is your best option. The Student’s Union website has an Organization Directory with every club/group listed. There’s everything from academic clubs to religious clubs to random activist groups.
Do you already have friends? Congratulations! If you don’t want to join a club because you’re so popular, try attending some of the events that the Student’s Union works so hard to put on for you. This Friday, September 11, they are hosting an evening at the WEM waterpark for $10.
A thriving campus community entirely depends on the students getting out and interacting with their school. The more people are active and engaged in the community, the stronger and more welcoming it will be for everyone involved. Be it through a club or a job on campus, more people spending time at the U of A and participating in the school creates stronger feelings of attachment to the institution where students will spend a lot of their time and energy for four or more years.
So instead of complaining about an unfriendly campus, get out and do something about it.
Do you mean 89 per cent? “The University of Alberta is a commuter campus. You can argue that there’s a thriving Greek scene and that student clubs are popular, but the reality is that 11 per cent of students spend only the amount of time….”