When I first came to RPI, I knew I wanted to write. My Navigating Rensselaer and Beyond event was the Poly Press Pass, my freshman year was packed with creative writing courses taught by Julie Gutmann, I joined The Poly and Statler & Waldorf (RPI’s literary magazine). I devoted hours upon hours to both publications, striving for a literary excellence that no one else seemed to care for.
My sentiment seemed to be true, though. To get a feeling of the campus’s literary sense, I polled 109 students in the Rensselaer Union, asking if they read The Poly and Statler & Waldorf. I also inquired if they did writing outside of class.
The numbers were low: 36 stated they frequently read The Poly, and 20 stated they frequently read Statler & Waldorf. As for writing, a scant 31 reported they did so outside of classes. I already knew my sisters didn’t read the subscription of The Poly they got sent to them (save the “Incident Blotter”), but I didn’t want to acknowledge the fact that students at the Institute don’t read much, if at all.
Aside from the reading problem, writing is also a major issue. As selections editor of S&W, I have a difficult time obtaining writing submissions from the student body. My writing woe will only get worse; without a creative writing course on campus, it seems Statler & Waldorf will be the only literary outlet left.
People don’t seem to recognize the importance of reading and writing on campus. All too often I have encountered peers who say, “I don’t need to read at RPI,” possessing these sentiments because they couldn’t care less about literacy.
They couldn’t be more wrong.
Oftentimes, these same people are the ones who are the least informed and have a hard time expressing themselves in words. Instead of facing their problem with writing, they flee from it and make it seem like it’s no big deal. The fact that RPI wants to promote this problem by removing creative writing and languages seems rather foolish.
I write this as a reminder of the importance of writing (even at RPI) and give thanks to the people who support The Poly through their readership.
