A campus of whiners

By Trey Murray

Richmond College '09

People, sit back for a second and just enjoy college. While these may not necessarily be the best four years of your life, at least a couple of them will probably qualify. I understand that not all times are good and our modern culture is somewhat emo. But get over it. Are you going to enjoy every single day here? Probably not. But that's not the institution's fault, that's something we like to call life.

It was difficult, at least for me, to read last week's Collegian and not surmise that this school is becoming a campus of whiners. While the sports section and hard news were all excellent reads, certain parts were a big snoozefest. I understand that it is essentially hypocritical to whine about whiners, but that's a conundrum I'm willing to operate under.

To our esteemed opinion editor, who thinks that the fraternities run the social life on campus and that the apartments should be demolished (excuse me?!): You're wrong. While I have dabbled in many lodge parties and other fraternity events during my first couple years here, I am by no means a frat guy. That doesn't mean I don't throw down more days during the week than I don't. Frats may be a large part of the social scene, but they by no means control it. Besides, there are plenty of other things to do than drink. Go to the Byrd and see a cheap movie. Go play laser tag or skeeball at Chuck E. Cheese or something. Also, Richmond is surprisingly somewhat of a hipster city (hence all the PBR downtown--look it up).

There's bound to be something happening here. Also, on the matter of the apartments -- I live in one and probably spend the majority of my waking hours in them -- they are fantastic. I know at huge frat apartment parties (where of course at least 50 percent of the students are over the age of 21) it can be awkward to shimmy your way from the pong room to the back room while trying not to laugh at awkward lap dances, but 99 percent of the time they are more than spacious. Watch TV -- it can be a social event. Fringe on Tuesdays, COPS all the time and Mad Men on Sundays. In addition, there's only one October (and hopefully no Dane Cook and Frank Caliendo doing ads this year), so baseball fans are set for a while, and don't even get me started on how football can take over a weekend. What's not to love?

As I write this, we not only have a football game coming up in a few hours, we also have the lovely Former Secretary Madeleine Albright coming to campus. For such a small school, we have been and are continuing to see more than our fair share of celebs this year -- the aforementioned, Garrison Keillor, Frank Rich (Come on, we couldn't get Brooks, Krugman, or Kristol?), David Sedaris, Louis CK--and those are only the ones I know from SpiderBytes. They're no Steve Yzerman, but they'll suffice.

To the women complaining about your recently renovated new home in Freeman --get over it! Two years ago I, along with many other male cohorts, lived in Freeman and didn't complain -- before it was renovated! You don't have a peephole or a mirror? Last I checked, mirrors were not officially stock with each room. You're women, I'm sure you have mirrors you can bring to constantly judge your flaws. No peepholes? I didn't have a peephole either! If someone knocks and it's a strange voice, don't open the door. And don't worry about the UFA Tickler, he's only slinking around the apartments anyway. The only way he can get into a dorm is if someone LETS him in, which should result in some sort of conspiracy to commit pervy activities charge.

My point, which hopefully wasn't lost in all that tangential rambling, is that the less time we spend complaining and being pissed at the world for no reason, the more we enjoy ourselves. We all like to do different things, but there are plenty of avenues on campus, alcohol-related and not. Whether it's Tanqueray and Croquet, intramurals, BOMOs at the lodges, joining the jot movement, Risk, sports, SNES or whatever it is you like to do, there is absolutely a place for you on campus. Stop whining and you'll find it.