Small world, even smaller school
We all chose Alfred University for a reason. The beautiful campus (at least in the fall and spring), the academic programs, the reputations of professors, the friendly atmosphere and even athletics may have contributed to your decision. Many students also pick AU because of its size. Going to a smaller school generally means that class sizes are smaller, you get more one-on-one time with your professors, you’re treated as a person rather than a number and the experience isn’t as overwhelming compared to a larger school. Despite these reasons to attend a small school, students soon encounter several pitfalls that go hand in hand with a small school.
If you live in an environment surrounded by the same people day in and day out, it will start to wear on you, no matter what the setting. I see the same people walking to classes, the same people in the classes, the same people at social gatherings and parties and the same people at GJ’s and Alex’s. They’re everywhere and you can’t get away from them. The same can be said about relationships. You don’t really know somebody until you start living with them and, to me, it feels like we at Alfred are a big family living together. As happens with a significant other, subtle nuances start to become apparent once you start spending serious time with people. These nuances can be good, but they can also be bad and rub you the wrong way. It is the same for social web of peers formed at small schools.
I’ve described Alfred to many people as very "high school," not in terms of education but in terms of maturity and, more specifically, gossip. The rate at which rumors spread around Alfred, you would think that everybody has Sprint Mobil 2-way radio features on their cell phones.
“Hey, did you hear Danny kissed Suzie? Did you hear Tommy slept with Marcia? Ooooo, I heard Joanie loves Chachi!”
It’s childish, it’s stupid and I don’t like it. I was looking forward to life in college to escape my "nosey neighbor" high school environment, not go through four more years of the social buzz and tattle tales.
A very important person once said, “Your reputation is your most important feature,” and I agree. It’s something that is so important yet so fragile. In a place such as Alfred, it’s not hard to achieve a positive reputation, but it’s even easier to throw it all away and make yourself the campus asshole. Bad reputations are hard to escape and if you’re at a small school, forget about it. To dig yourself out of hole that deep will take more than time; it takes a change in scenery where no one knows you. Unfortunately, if you reach that point, it’s time to start fresh with a clean slate and that’s not happening at a community such as this one.
Cell phones and social-networking websites like Facebook and MySpace don’t make this problem any better. They effectively take a school or social environment and shrink it by informing more people of the personal business affairs of others. I like Facebook as a networking resource to contact friends and look at a few pictures, but I would rather not have the potential for social stalking that comes with a username and password. I guess I shouldn’t expect anything more from Facebook, as it was invented as a way to find out who’s in your classes and who's dating who on college campuses. Enhanced communication in general makes any environment smaller, but that’s the world we live in.
I didn’t want this to be a bash session towards Alfred University because the University can't do anything about this. If you have friends, siblings or even kids of your own someday and they are in the process of picking a college or University, make sure to mention this to them and have them consider the small size of a college for its negatives as well as its positives. The four years I have spent here have been the best of my life, but I would have rather have lived here without the presence of high school students who call themselves members of the Alfred University community.
Comments
The Big Family
Ian,
Please allow me to interject a few comments simply regarding your article, not you idea. Being an 'esteemed' member of the Fiat, I find it deplorable that you can confuse the gas station with a cellular trade name. Please, for your own sake think about what you are writing before you create it. These words reflect on you, personally, and they do carry considerable weight when they are thrown around so carelessly.
Now, on to the brunt of my statement. I can respect your opinion; sincerely I do, however, I would like to make the guess that you were from a larger city high school where you were nothing but a number and a statistic amongst a spreadsheet. Sincerely, I apologize and I feel such a situation is regrettable for anybody. As you mentioned, Alfred is small. Alfred perhaps could be labeled as 'quaint'. What our school is not, however, is a 2000 plus bodied mirror of your high school.
Any student here should feel lucky to be included amongst this community. Actually community may be the incorrect word. As my time here (albeit short compared to yours, perhaps) I feel more and more included in a family named Alfred. Nowhere else can I fathom walking down any arbitrary sidewalk and street and knowing a good percentage of the colleges, academia, administration, or random community member's than I do here. I find the feeling a pleasant one after I can (and feel comfortable) walking by the Dean of Students, the Vice President, any number of professors and faculty, and of course scores of students; all on a first name basis. Such a phenomenon is unheard of on larger campuses and that is why Alfred is a rare bread among its kind.
Of course, being part of a community (yes I forgot, a family) like this comes with it's pitfalls. Does news spread fast? Absolutely, but that is simply by virtue of Alfred being...Alfred. The same would (and is) said about any other small town on God's green earth. The smaller the community, the tighter the bond. So why would this thing you call 'gossip' behave any different? Gossip is (and I quote), "Casual or unconstrained conversation or reports about other people, typically involving details that are not confirmed as being true..." Isn't that something we all do? Ian, can you HONESTLY declare yourself innocent of this conviction? No you can't. In high school, teen girls gossiped about their crushes, who looked at them in the hall funny, or which of their girly arch-nemesis kissed a random boy. Boy's were no different; drowning in hormones and bragging about whatever sexual 'exploits' and other taboo adventures their imaginations could conjure up. What would you have expected? High school teenagers were just kids: slowly and gradually developing into themselves as men and women as life dictates. College is just another step of that process. Personally, most of the people I know are very mature. What I also know is that non of us are immune from human nature...well obviously besides you, Ian.
Now, I'm not supporting or condoning the rumor/gossip mill that exists among any human entity. I've developed distain for it myself, not that I am free of guilt either, but why should any of us outwardly insult your fellow men for such a thing? Were you afflicted by some viscous rumor? Has your reputation beed destroyed by some nasty idea that has spread? If so then I have certainly not heard of it, well not for anything that hasn't been deserved that is. You speak as though gossip is what destroys reputations, yet you fail to understand that in the absence on malicious fact, rumors come and go causing harm just as a summer storm can destroy a farmers crops. The farmer isn't ruined for life, just until next season. Setting aside my analogy, rumors do not cause damage to people's reputation unless something has happened to start it. Scandal, fraud...or publishing a half-baked opinion article that with one swipe insults ever person in Alfred who calls a small town home.
The 'rumor mill' as you would call it, comes with benefits however, does it not? If you were to publish a brilliantly worded and truly thought invoking article, then the 'rumor mill' would be buzzing about that article. The same principle is how the close ties holding Alfred together causes good. The Main Street fire, as previously mentioned, proves that. Even disregarding the multitude of emails distributed that morning, not a single student was absent minded of the tragedy by sunset. Following this was an astounding outpouring of support for those who lost all they had. I have never seen such resounding generosity from a community before or since then, and I sincerely attribute that to those words of sympathy spread from one tongue to the next. How can you bring yourself to criticize this when our close community has caused so much good, but rarely causes evil?
In short, Ian, you have managed to declare yourself against the very facet of Alfred that makes our home so unique amongst many others. The simple fact that you are calling out our community and the inherent characteristics that coincide with what WE are has proven your place among us.
Small School, Big Heart
Who do you think you are to drag your alma mater through the mud? Many people happen to like the fact that at a small school, information spreads quickly. At a large school you might not know when a fire takes the apartments of 5 fellow students. You might not see a student senate help those students in the same day it happens. Or see the majority of the campus pitch in clothes and goods to help. I do not feel that small school gossip and information is a pitfall as you describe it. It is part of being a small town, if you do not like it then go disappear in a city.
As for the rumor mill, a reputation is important but it is not the small schools fault if you ruin it. Especially if you boast about disrespectful events or post wild party pictures on facebook. It is everyone's own responsibility to be the best community member they can be. If they choose not to be than it is second nature for gossip to spread. Its not the small community's fault. In any community, large or small gossip will spread. I have been at UB, Clarkson, and Alfred. They are all the same. When one becomes the "school asshole", no matter the size of the school, that reputation will stick. At the same time, campus leaders are better recognized as are great staff. Once again, small town gossip can be good.
Gossip also gives students a chance to vent a little. It is up to each person to analyze what they hear before they go running off with it. If there are a group of students trading gossip about another student it gives everyone a chance to relieve some steam about your "campus asshole". I would much rather have a group of students gossiping than a group of students holding pitchforks and torches.
I suggest you check your spelling, Mobil is a gas station and part of the global corporation Exxon-Mobil, Sprint Mobile is a phone service. Nosey is not a word, nosy is.
So before you go trashing your alma mater, dragging the school that YOU chose through the mud, maybe you should reconsider your statements and choice of school. I would much rather be at a "high school" where your nosy neighbor is your friend, than be at a big mature school where you are just a number. If anything this article has been a "high school" attack on the school that most of us hold dear to our heart. I really wish the editor of this fine paper would read your articles, then we would not have such trash in the paper that goes to future, present, and past students.
My Rebuttal
Dear saxon_at_heart,
Thank you for your thoughtful response to my article, but please allow me to rebut. I assume that from your user-name and the content of your response that you are a supporter of Alfred University. I applaud your devotion and share your enthusiasm for the University in my article by saying very clearly “The four years I have spent here have been the best of my life”. But, you may have missed this.
Let me start off my saying that I did not drag the University through the mud. That was not my intent. Besides, who do you think you are to drag my opinions piece through the mud? :-)
I’m not arguing that some people like the fact that information travels quickly at a small school environment like Alfred. But what I am arguing is that people need to grow up and find a different hobby other than spreading nonsense about good people.
You reference the Main street fire on October 29th by saying:
saxon_at_heart: “At a large school you might not know when a fire takes the apartments of 5 fellow students”.
I have to disagree with this statement based purely on personal opinion, not personal experience. But, you’re right; you might not immediately see or hear about these things at a larger school, but did you poll every student at Alfred University to see if they heard about this fire on the same day that it happened? Did you survey all students to see if they heard about student senate donating funds or students donating goods? My point is is that no matter where you are, whether it’s AU or UB, there are going to be students who hear about events like these and those who do not. There are going be those who choose to participate in events like these and those who do not whether it’s a big school or small school. Are you also saying that because these students received so much support and aid at a small school such as Alfred, they would have received less or no help at a larger school?
saxon_at_heart: “I do not feel that small school gossip and information is a pitfall as you describe it. It is part of being a small town, if you do not like it then go disappear in a city.”
I respect your opinion, but does gossip necessarily have to be part of being in a small town? I think not. It’s not a matter of ‘if’ I do not like gossip, I don’t. I believe I stated that very clearly. Luckily, I am graduating this May and, per your advice, I plan on watching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy 13 times before I graduate, learn the ways of Frodo Baggins and the hobbits and live under a rock in a very large city so that gossip will never find me again. :-)
If you read my article closely, I’m not blaming the small school for ruining someone’s reputation. However, I am blaming a small school environment for making it harder for one to escape their bad reputation that they gain.
I totally agree with you on your point about Facebook. I believe that you are referencing my reference to social networking tools and how they make this problem of gossip and escaping bad reputations worse at a small school. If someone wants to post disrespectful events or wild party pictures, they can do that. It’s their life and their reputation but I do not condone it.
We find ourselves in agreement again when you say that “Its not the small community's fault” that gossip travels and although it is also true that “In any community, large or small gossip will spread”, it doesn’t spread at the same rate in a small environment.
saxon_at_heart: “At the same time, campus leaders are better recognized as are great staff. Once again, small town gossip can be good.”
With this sentence, let me clarify a point. Throughout my article, my reference to ‘gossip’ was in a negative sense. True, you can have positive gossip and with this, the recognition of campus leaders and great staff members would spread more quickly. This type of gossip would be a good thing, as you said, but would be an automatic disqualification from the likes of my article.
Your comparison of gossip to venting is intriguing. The term ‘vent’, in your context, according to Merriam-Webster means; “To give often vigorous or emotional expression”. I thank you for this comment because, in a way, you have proven my point. It’s these immature students who are venting by letting their ‘emotional expressions’ get the best of them. Contrary to what you say, they don’t ‘analyze what they hear’ because if they did, they wouldn’t spread these rumors it in the manner in which they do. They do not possess the maturity and experience to ‘analyze’ hear-say before they play telephone with the next person. True, it is up to each student to “analyze what they hear before they go running off with it”, but how many students take the time to do this? In my experience, not many. In a perfect world, one hopes that this would happen but no matter the size of the school, having the majority of students do this will never happen. If you want to vent, go run around, go climb a mountain (there are lots of them around here), beat a pillow or bang your head against the wall. You can even visit the website needtovent.com. They have a ‘Kudos Corner’, ‘Movie Reviews’ and ‘Haikus for you’. A time to vent is a time to disperse energy, not gossip.
saxon_at_heart: “If there are a group of students trading gossip about another student it gives everyone a chance to relieve some steam about your "campus asshole".”
I believe you are misunderstanding me with this statement. The campus asshole that I referred to was born from his own actions, not the gossip of others. I reference the campus asshole to make my point that a small school is an environment where bad gossip spreads quickly AND (separate topic) it’s hard to escape a bad reputation. He could later be subjected to the gossip of others, but that is secondary to him making himself the campus asshole. The campus asshole and gossip had no direct correlation.
Rather than crazed, gossiping pre-electricity era students, I would rather have people keep their noses out of other peoples’ business. Live your life the way you want to live it (minus gossiping about others) and leave everyone else to their own lives. If you don’t like the way someone is acting or ‘living their life’, don’t associate yourself with them and especially don’t spread negative gossip.
I thank you for catching my spelling errors. You should become an editor of a newspaper or even contribute to our fortnightly issue. I would like to correct your correction by saying that "nosey" is a variant spelling of 'nosy'. But, like those who gossip, those who are the campus assholes or those who write opinions articles or responses to opinions articles, no one is perfect and, frankly, I would not associate your response to my article in the category of ‘perfect writing’. “It’s” is a contraction that means “it is”. When you say “Its not the small community's fault” in the middle of your second paragraph, you should have added the apostrophe to make the word the contraction of “it’s” instead of “its”. :-)
saxon_at_heart: “So before you go trashing your alma mater, dragging the school that YOU chose through the mud, maybe you should reconsider your statements and choice of school.”
Like I said before, each person has their own opinions of my writing. Some think it’s fresh and innovative while others, obviously, think it’s trashy and muddy. However, I never directly or indirectly trashed Alfred University. (I believe your reference to my alma mater is incorrect as well. It’s not, technically, my alma mater because I have not graduated or earned a degree yet. This May, when I graduate with a degree from Alfred University, it would then become my Alma Mater :-).) I never, in writing or in thought, dragged AU through the mud and I was happy when I chose AU in 2006 as my undergrad University and I am still happy with my choice. I quote from my article once again “The four years I have spent here have been the best of my life” and “I didn’t want this to be a bash session about Alfred University because the University can’t do anything about this”. Now, after the article has been published, do I reconsider my statements? Absolutely not. I don’t take back anything I wrote, nor do I regret writing the article. It was a thoughtful and, I admit, rather harsh opinions piece but have no regrets whatsoever.
You would much rather have this be a "high school" environment where your nosy neighbor is your friend than be at a big mature school where you are just a number? Can’t we meet somewhere in the middle? Are there Universities or social environments that share these characteristics out there? I sure hope so.
saxon_at_heart: “If anything this article has been a "high school" attack on the school that most of us hold dear to our heart.”
I disagree, wholeheartedly. This article was a very though-out and planned expression of my distaste for the small environment of Alfred and its effect and augmentation on negative gossip. It was not an attack as you claim; something that is immature, disorganize and emotionally-driven. And, for the record, I hold, and will always hold, AU dear to my cardiologic midpoint. Like you, I too am a Saxon at heart.
saxon_at_heart: “I really wish the editor of this fine paper would read your articles, then we would not have such trash in the paper that goes to future, present, and past students.”
Yes, the Fiat Lux is a wonderful student newspaper paper, the Editor in Chief, in his defense, is very good at what he does and I enjoy writing opinions article for this exact reason. But this is the idea behind these pieces; to stir other peoples’ opinions and get them thinking about the content. If you think this article is ‘trash’ and wish to burn page 2 of Fiat Lux Volume 104, No. 8 and spit on the ashes, no one is stopping you. But be careful, your nosy neighbor, in your large or small community, with or without Facebook or Sprint Mobile 2-way radio features on their cell phones, might see great plumes of smoke venting through your chimney which could start negative gossip and may soon lead to a damaging reputation as someone who is against the green movement, and that wouldn’t fly in the Alfred community.
Sincerely,
Ian Cramer
Opinions Editor, Fiat Lux
I would much rather have
I would much rather have gossip around my school than go to a school where the newspaper is using rash generalizations like calling the entire student body high school girls. Someone pissed you off. Take it out with them, not the entire campus population.
-Cory
Cory, Please keep in mind
Cory,
Please keep in mind that its a bit unfair to lump the whole newspaper in together. I am not saying that I agree or disagree with Ian, but his piece was in the opinion's section, not the new's section. It would be incorrect to say that Ian is the entire newspaper, and that his opinion, printed in the opinion section, is one that the Fiat Lux as a whole shares. I just wanted to make that minor correction.
Additionally, you are welcome to submit a letter to the editor for our next issue if you would like. Our email account is fiatlux@alfred.edu
Sincerely,
Kristin
Managing Editor, Features Editor