Whenever Rensselaer gracefully bestows upon its students an extended weekend, they should be equally considerate and put up a sign that says “Go Home!”
Go home, get out of town, I don’t care what you do, but you got to get up out of here. This seems to be the mindset of the administration as the Institute does everything in its power to make it inconvenient for those students who either live too far away to return home, or do not have enough friends to go visit at other schools. God forbid the hard working Rensselaer student might actually want to stick around over the long weekend, hang out with some friends, have some fun, and maybe get ahead on some homework.
However, RPI does its best to discourage this completely acceptable and logical behavior on the parts of its students. For example, let us say a Rensselaer student wanted to use the Armory this weekend to relax in between studying for upcoming exams or take a break from those projects. Well they, like myself, would have been sadly disappointed to find the Armory closed not just all day Saturday, but Sunday and Monday as well. The Institute, the athletic department, whoever, had successfully reserved the entire gym for the entire for weekend without considering the Rensselaer student body. And to make matters worse, the ’87 gym was closed on Monday as well for a youth baseball clinic, and the Mueller Center was operating limited hours all weekend, leaving many recreation seekers out in the cold.
Furthermore, the Institute makes it difficult for students to get food in the Union as the Rathskellar’s hours were changed for the weekend, and the garbage situation in my residence hall became so unbearable by Monday that I actually took some of the garbage out to the dumpster myself.
Now I would figure—at the very least—the Institute would have the decency to post schedules for the athletic facilities and dining services more clearly while at least advising residents that hospitality services will not resume until Tuesday. Of course, asking for a schedule of the Armory on holiday weekends is a bit much since the building’s hours and availability are a mystery to me, and I’ve been trying to figure it out for three years.
So my advice to all students is to take the administration’s hint and get out of town if you can—it will be better for you. My advice for the Institute: try making your students feel welcome at their “home” for eight months of the year. Perhaps you might eliminate some of that “going to RPI sucks” mentality among the student body. It might just help create that whole “Communiversity” thing you’ve been going for. Just a thought.
