Let's start with the basics
Matthew Smith
senior
In recent years there has been a regressive trend emerging at our beloved University. We have all noticed it in subtle ways. All the needless demonstrations of authority at security gates, football games, and while tailgating add up to a simple fact: Notre Dame shows its students a lack of trust and respect.
I'm not referring to parietals, or to any fundamentals of our notorious campus living guide, du Lac. Instead, it's really the little things that matter. Ironically, the things that bother me the most about our school are the things that could be most easily corrected. Therefore, I would like to propose three exceptionally simple ways in which the University could help create an atmosphere of which we can all be proud to be an equal part:
1. Let us on campus with our cars. I have suffered through too many stories about gate security officers denying students entrance to their own campus. How difficult would it be to let anyone through who shows student ID? Allow everyone an hour to park without brow-beating them to offer good reasons, and then let it be known that campus security can ticket cars staying over the limit. Campus security should be looking for ways to accommodate us, not intimidate us.
2. Let us enjoy ourselves at football games. I know that some pranksters in the past have thrown objects more dangerous than marshmallows, but attempting to kill this senior tradition is not the answer. Why did the seniors choose marshmallows to hurl in the first place? Because they won't hurt anyone. Give us a little credit for looking out for our own, and back off when you see the innocent projectiles flying.
3. Allow 21-year-old students to drink alcohol while tailgating, no matter the tailgating "sponsor." On the whole, Notre Dame students are pretty responsible. Allow those of us who are legal to support our storied football program and have a good time doing it. After all, in less than a year we will be in the real world, and I think we would benefit from learning for ourselves to make wise decisions regarding alcohol. This is not a novel concept; somehow every other football powerhouse has found a way to make it work. Drinking and driving should not be a serious argument here, because after tailgating we will be attending a four-hour football game. Besides, the team's performance of late is enough to sober up even the most intoxicated of tailgaters.
Without our student body, what would Notre Dame be? Our University assembles some of the brightest and most considerate students in the nation year after year. Why are we supervised as if we are attending a correctional school? The University needs to grant us the courtesy and leniency needed for us to develop as members of society during the course of our four years here. To be ready for the real world, students make choices, and sometimes make mistakes. Above all, most schools recognize that part of college life is in being free to explore who we are.
For now, the powers that be are well aware that there are plenty of students waiting in line to attend our University. They may feel no need to compromise with the 21st century, or with the students who line their pockets with gold.
However, if potential students begin to get the feeling that Big Brother is watching, they may look elsewhere. The Notre Dame traditions of family and faith will never die, but unless we make our voices heard, the independent spirit of our student body may soon fade away.
Matthew Smith
senior
off-campus
Notre Dame Student Senate and Campus Life Council
Nov. 26, 2001
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, November 27, 2001
