STAFF EDITORIAL
Issue date: 5/1/09 Section: Opinion
You wait in line for five minutes to get into the overly crowded DC and you notice something. The food actually is decent-not just decent, the best all year. You then walk into your classroom for your Bible class and you notice some families sitting in the back and the professor opens the class in prayer for the first time all year. Yes, it is high school expedition day that special day when high school seniors get a tiny taste of what Spring Arbor University has to offer. But are they getting a true idea of what the campus is like?
On campus visit days, all faculty and staff are on their best behavior, trying to impress those 17-year-old kids enough that they invest four (or more) years of their lives and more than $80,000 of their parents' money to go to school here.
Now, there is nothing wrong with trying to make a good impression and sell your product, but sometimes it can be over the top. Like scheduling the most dynamic chapel speakers around senior day and having dramatic alter calls to top it off. Or how about interrupting students working in the art building to clean up their work areas because the beloved high schoolers are on their way? We've even seen admission reps tell students to stop goofing off because prospective students are in their presence.
Possibly the most heinous crime in our book is pulling the campus newspaper when high school students visit. This has happened three times in the last four years, all of them on or near prospective student days. The first time it was pulled was for a review of Brokeback Mountain and then again in 2007 for a news story about a settlement with the recently fired transgender professor Julie Nemecek.
As stated earlier, we see nothing wrong with making a good impression, but when it starts affecting current students, we take issue. When current students shelling out $20,000 a year to be here are censored or have to change their normal schedule or their behavior, there is a problem. And when the university changes the DC menu and chapel services for prospective students, does anyone else find that somewhat deceptive?
We are certainly not condoning the elimination of high school visits. They are important to keep this university going strong. We are calling for a more accurate representation of Spring Arbor University for prospective students. It's only fair to be honest to young students preparing to make a big investment in their future.
On campus visit days, all faculty and staff are on their best behavior, trying to impress those 17-year-old kids enough that they invest four (or more) years of their lives and more than $80,000 of their parents' money to go to school here.
Now, there is nothing wrong with trying to make a good impression and sell your product, but sometimes it can be over the top. Like scheduling the most dynamic chapel speakers around senior day and having dramatic alter calls to top it off. Or how about interrupting students working in the art building to clean up their work areas because the beloved high schoolers are on their way? We've even seen admission reps tell students to stop goofing off because prospective students are in their presence.
Possibly the most heinous crime in our book is pulling the campus newspaper when high school students visit. This has happened three times in the last four years, all of them on or near prospective student days. The first time it was pulled was for a review of Brokeback Mountain and then again in 2007 for a news story about a settlement with the recently fired transgender professor Julie Nemecek.
As stated earlier, we see nothing wrong with making a good impression, but when it starts affecting current students, we take issue. When current students shelling out $20,000 a year to be here are censored or have to change their normal schedule or their behavior, there is a problem. And when the university changes the DC menu and chapel services for prospective students, does anyone else find that somewhat deceptive?
We are certainly not condoning the elimination of high school visits. They are important to keep this university going strong. We are calling for a more accurate representation of Spring Arbor University for prospective students. It's only fair to be honest to young students preparing to make a big investment in their future.
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