2008 Woodie Awards
Senior Questions Hendrix Priorities
Ethan Moore
Issue date: 4/28/06 Section: Opinion
It's been four long years since I first set foot on Hendrix campus. These years have been witness to a substantial part of my growth as a human being. In many ways, I don't even closely resemble the person that I was when I moved into Hardin 215 in the fall of 2002. In many ways, I haven't changed a bit. Needless to say, I owe all of that to my time at Hendrix College.
The people I've met during my four years have truly made all the difference in my life. There are other small schools out there, other educational communities that are as tight knit as ours, but Hendrix has always seemed to attract not only smart people, but smart people who possessed at certain degree of what I'll call "quirkiness." I know I can't define it solidly, but that doesn't keep me from trying. Its that "something" that drives us to learn and work until we're up at 3:30 in the morning, then tells us its ok to go to IHOP even though we have class at 8 am. It's also that something that lets us have pride in school that drives us to such insanity, even though we have none of the traditional pride generating features, like a stellar athletic program or ridiculous Greek system. We take pride in our academics and ourselves as a community. At least we used to.
But all that is about to change. There has definitely been a noticeable increase in the importance of athletics to our administration. Sure, we love our sports but we are first and foremost a place of higher education. If our students happen to play sports, awesome. But it seems that in recent years the goal hasn't been to recruit students who may play sports, but rather to recruit athletes who may go to class occasionally. I'm not saying that athletes are bad people, but rather I fear the dilution of concentrated academics. That's what this school is based on, and what the people who come here are attracted to. At least it used to be. But things change I guess.
Our school managed to raise millions and millions of dollars for this fancy new athletic facility, yet can't find the money to keep some of the school's most beloved professors around? Imagine what IT could do with that money? How far could we have expanded the library? What about renovating the dorms? Surely any department in the school would have loved a healthy chunk of that money. But what did our illustrious school choose to spend it on? An athletics facility. That no one's going to use but the athletes.
But I'm graduating, what should I care right? See, thing is, I wouldn't care normally. I'd stand by and laugh as this school destroyed it's image, and with it, everything that made the school attractive. That is, until my sister accepted a scholarship. So now I have an interest in seeing this school maintain its identity, at least for the next four years. After all, she's coming here because I spoke so highly of the fact that Hendrix is indeed an academic institution, not just a clever front for a gluttonous athletics department. I'm just scared that the way things are going, I'll be made a liar.
The people I've met during my four years have truly made all the difference in my life. There are other small schools out there, other educational communities that are as tight knit as ours, but Hendrix has always seemed to attract not only smart people, but smart people who possessed at certain degree of what I'll call "quirkiness." I know I can't define it solidly, but that doesn't keep me from trying. Its that "something" that drives us to learn and work until we're up at 3:30 in the morning, then tells us its ok to go to IHOP even though we have class at 8 am. It's also that something that lets us have pride in school that drives us to such insanity, even though we have none of the traditional pride generating features, like a stellar athletic program or ridiculous Greek system. We take pride in our academics and ourselves as a community. At least we used to.
But all that is about to change. There has definitely been a noticeable increase in the importance of athletics to our administration. Sure, we love our sports but we are first and foremost a place of higher education. If our students happen to play sports, awesome. But it seems that in recent years the goal hasn't been to recruit students who may play sports, but rather to recruit athletes who may go to class occasionally. I'm not saying that athletes are bad people, but rather I fear the dilution of concentrated academics. That's what this school is based on, and what the people who come here are attracted to. At least it used to be. But things change I guess.
Our school managed to raise millions and millions of dollars for this fancy new athletic facility, yet can't find the money to keep some of the school's most beloved professors around? Imagine what IT could do with that money? How far could we have expanded the library? What about renovating the dorms? Surely any department in the school would have loved a healthy chunk of that money. But what did our illustrious school choose to spend it on? An athletics facility. That no one's going to use but the athletes.
But I'm graduating, what should I care right? See, thing is, I wouldn't care normally. I'd stand by and laugh as this school destroyed it's image, and with it, everything that made the school attractive. That is, until my sister accepted a scholarship. So now I have an interest in seeing this school maintain its identity, at least for the next four years. After all, she's coming here because I spoke so highly of the fact that Hendrix is indeed an academic institution, not just a clever front for a gluttonous athletics department. I'm just scared that the way things are going, I'll be made a liar.
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