ADDY PITTENGER, Special to The Denisonian—
Don’t get me wrong, I love my family just as much as the next person does, and I’m thankful that I’m close with them to the point where I can casually, without hardcore judgement, tell them about all the chaos that occurs on campus such as the dated puke on the seal, the, for whatever reason, obsession with playing where’s waldo with President Weinberg, and the absurd, yet entertaining amount of fire alarms that occur during the week.
That being said, you’d think they would enjoy an event such as Big Red Weekend; however, after pondering the rationale behind the event, followed by observing the effort being put into setting up for it, I couldn’t help but think, is Big Red Weekend really for the parents and families? Or is it more for Denison’s ego? Denison shouldn’t show special treatment towards the privileged over their own students.
It was a Friday morning after a class, and a friend and I usually grab breakfast and coffee before meeting up with a couple of our friends outside of Slayter. Never have I seen so many workers in/outside the building working on washing the windows, vacuuming the floors and sweeping practically everything. At first I thought, “this is rather nice for the families,” but then I realized that this extreme cleanliness would probably not happen regularly if it wasn’t for the arrival of guests for the weekend.
Upon the arrival of the families, there were food trucks and other pre-made meals served for the guests which I heard were fantastic in quality. Slayter 1st floor had nice centerpieces on each of the tables, and the back of Slayter had a whole fancy setup as well. These decorations were lovely and beautiful, so I understand how they make Denison feel welcoming, but this just points out that Denison does have the capability and means of bringing a better, more welcoming atmosphere to campus regarding the things that the student body requests.
The popular app “Yik Yak” has exposed some of the grievances that the students have regarding the Denison campus such as the food quality of the dining halls and the messiness of the campus during the weekend. Yet, these grievances seemed to have not existed during the week of Big Red Weekend.
Aside from the extreme effort of impressing the guests, a couple of students whom I briefly spoke to after the weekend told me about their experiences during Big Red Weekend saying that as much as they loved having their parents around, they weren’t for all of the formalities that Dension held. They thought of it as a way to “con the parents into donating money” for the school. A girl in one of my classes mentioned her boyfriend’s father being invited by President Weinberg himself to discuss how, what she described as, “thankful Denison is for the luxurious amount of money he donated.” Gratitude is very much appreciated, but it’s a double edged sword to have the point of wanting more too.
I’m not holding any sort of grudge against the kitchen working staff, for they do a lovely job, nor am I blaming the custodians/BSA’s who keep our lovely campus clean. I believe that it just shouldn’t be the case that they are told to “extra” clean the campus only to impress the richer parents who most likely donate towards the school. It also shouldn’t be the case that Denison brings richer and more nutritious food for the parents over their students. Denison has shown that they are capable of bringing so much more to help their student’s than what’s given, and I know certain grievances aren’t exactly in Denison’s direct power, but that also doesn’t mean that Denison can’t start to make a difference in it.