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Is there still nothing to do on campus?

June 13th, 2022 by Kenneth Abrahams

There are a lot of reasons that a student will tell their parents there was nothing to do on campus. Perhaps, it had been a long week and they just needed some quiet alone time to recharge their batteries. Maybe they went to visit a friend at another campus, and they would rather not tell Mom and Dad what they were doing. Not that this ever was the case with me or my kids but maybe they over indulged and they want to keep that info away from their parents. Maybe there was nothing being offered that they were interested in. Regardless, it doesn’t mean that if you are a parent, you should be calling the school to complain.

There are several good reasons to call your child’s school. If you are concerned about their mental health, or they are struggling academically and can’t seem to find the right resources or support. There is a financial issue at home that may affect the ability for you to pay tuition, room and board or fees on time. Maybe there is a serious issue with a roommate that your child can’t seem to get addressed by the residence life staff. All of those are legitimate, appropriate reasons to pick up the phone and call or email the appropriate people. Your kid is bored, hardly rises to that level.

Pre-pandemic it was bad, but it has gotten exponentially worse. For someone that went to school in the late 70’s and early eighties to hear people complain about the lack of activities on a college campus in 2022 is laughable, or it would be if the impact on those who plan the activities wasn’t so great. There is so much more to do on a college campus now than there was back then, but apparently it is still not enough.

I went to a small school where money and groups that programmed were limited. However, some of the same “rules” applied at larger schools as well. We rarely, if ever, ran large, signature programs against one another on the same weekend. For example, if the dance department were running their big spring show, we wouldn’t do an event that weekend or we would adjust our start times to make sure that we started after their performance ended for the night. Nowadays, on many campuses, that is no longer the case. We had one major programming group on campus, today it is common to have a multitude of groups planning events for either specific groups or the entire campus populations. A number of affinity groups offer a wide range of events from lectures to meals to social events. Look at a college calendar, it is not unusual on the same weekend to see the Caribbean Club hosting something like a food truck festival, while the Black Student Union is having a Dance Party with a student DJ, the Program Board doing Big Prize Bingo, and the Student Union providing Late Night events. Nothing to do. Give me a break.

Many parents and students are unaware of the chain reaction that these complaint calls start. Even if it is just one parent that calls, often the powers that be panic. With many schools still reeling from the financial toll that COVID took, nobody wants to lose even one student these days. So, just the thought of a student being unhappy, gets people to jump. Some of you may be thinking that is a good thing, that was the desired reaction, to get people moving and motivated. That thinking implies that the people that it is pushing to move are not doing their jobs and nothing could be further from the truth. It is essentially creating a flurry of activity to show whoever called that something is being done. What it does is push people that are already doing a ridiculous amount of work to create more programs. Often times, those upper-level administrators don’t care about the quality, value, or impact of those programs, just that they happen. Trust me when I tell you that students and professional staff members tasked with creating and implementing those programs and events don’t feel great when they are pushed to add additional programs that 5 students attend.

If you are a parent or a student and you truly want to make a positive impact, here are a few suggestions.

1. Get involved. College and university campuses are always looking for enthusiastic students to join clubs and organizations. Remember that if you make the commitment to join, people are counting on you to contribute. Just joining is not enough, be active, attend meetings, work on events, recruit new members. You will be helping the organization as well as benefiting yourself.
2. Start a new club or revive a dormant one. If there is something that you are passionate about and you know others on campus are as well, but don’t see a club or organization addressing that need, step forward and explore the possibility of starting a new club. Most colleges have a wide range of organizations meeting an array of needs, wants, and desires. Some clubs are in place to support certain majors, like a dance club or a young engineer’s group. They can also be socially based groups, a recycling club, or a sustainability group. They can be an affinity group that supports a specific segment of the population, like a Caribbean Students Association or an LGBTQ group. Please note that regardless of the group they represent, they are open to all students. Occasionally clubs addressing your specific interest have already been started but because interest or participation fell off they have gone dormant. A good place to start your search is always the Student Involvement or Activities Office.
3. Hang up the phone. If you are a student thinking about calling home to complain or a parent about to call the school to demand additional activities for your child, stop and take a breath or two. Do some research, is there really nothing to do? Many students and their parents are blissfully unaware of all that schools are offering these days. There is a wealth of resources available to find out what is happening on campuses. Some schools put it in the student newspaper, others post them in bathrooms and other common spaces. Many schools send out weekly or daily email blasts. Just about every college and university has a campus calendar accessible to students and parents with a robust list of both academic and social events.
4. Don’t lose your perspective. Remember you went to college, or sent your child to school, to get an education. This is an academic institution, not Disney World. Part of the expectation when students go off to school is that they will grow and mature. One piece of that is learning how to entertain themselves. If you like board games, find like-minded students in your residence hall that feel similarly and arrange informal game nights. Explore the great outdoors, take a walk with friends, or enjoy a pickup game of Ultimate Frisbee. Your options are endless and all without intervention from anyone.

As a parent, I understand that sometimes it is hard not to insert yourself into these situations, but you are really not helping. By pushing schools to do more events you are stretching and diluting resources. Many schools in this “post pandemic era” are already facing budget cuts and having them do more events puts even more pressure on limited financial resources. Staff in many of these offices have open positions that they simply can’t find people to fill or don’t have the budget to fill them. Long story short, by adding more events you are pushing overworked staff to work even longer. Quality gets diluted. Instead of having fewer great events, you push schools to have more lower quality events. Of course, those planning the events don’t set out with a goal of producing lower quality events, but if they have less money to work with per event, have less time to plan it, and a smaller staff to pull it off, that is the outcome that will more than likely occur.

There is really plenty to do on college campuses, you just need to go out and find it. As far as I’m concerned putting a little effort into it is not a bad thing.

About the author

Ken Abrahams spent all 4 years of his collegiate career involved as a student. His first volunteer experience was as a clown during the colleges spring festival his first year. He served in several volunteer roles after that, including program board treasurer, program board chairperson, orientation leader, member of student government and young alumni trustee. These experiences have helped shape him both personally and professionally.

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