School too restricting

Last week, Kevin Carpenter í12 wrote about the ìWooster Iron Curtain,” accusing students of not making an effort to be a part of the city of Wooster, and how this lack of integration strengthened the dichotomy between the College and the town. I agree that we could probably do better than the few program houses whose services and work outside the College are generally overshadowed by weekend outings and booze runs. This goes beyond a lack of effort by the students, however. The College is fairly unique in that it requires us to choose a meal plan and live on campus all four years. Granted, seniors have the option of applying to live off-campus, but the fact that this is a rare exception only supports the fact that the College has too much power over our housing situation. In this way, the school actually prevents us from truly being a part of the community outside the College.

Our lack of involvement outside the school is not only harmful in the social effects Kevin brought up last week, but also to the economic structure of the city. Think about it ó a decent chunk of the population of the city doesnít contribute economically aside from a few nights out.† Granted, we make up a very small portion of the cityís population, but if we were allowed to live off-campus, or at least provide our own food, we would stimulate Woosterís economy far more effectively.

A greater economic involvement with the city would benefit the students as well. I, personally, have always thought I could live much more cheaply and healthily if I could buy my own groceries and cook my own food instead of being forced to pay for a meal plan. A handful of my friends have certain allergies that make being part of the Lowry meal plan unfeasible. I recognize and respect the arrangements that have been made, such as moving tomatoes out of the deli and into the salad bar and the gluten-free products that have been made available. However, every situation canít be accounted for, and that choosing not to have a meal plan wasnít an option is ridiculous.

Especially with the closing of Kitteridge dining hall, the meal options are too limited. Even the ìFlex Dollar” concept is deceptively limiting. Basically, we give the school money so they can give it back to us to spend on something we could get somewhere else for less money and better quality. This is done under the pretense that, if left to our own devices, weíd live on snacks, ramen and other such unhealthy, processed foods, but whatís available to us at Momís and Lowry? Fried food and snack items.

I have digressed somewhat from my point, however, which is that were we allowed by the school to be more economically involved in the community, we might actually have less of a problem with the student/townie division. When the only reason we have for leaving campus is recreation, thatís the only side of us that the town is going to see. If we could actually live off campus, we would be much more invested in how the community viewed us, even if that investment was partially due to the fact that noise complaints would be answered by actual police instead of just campus security. Even being able to provide our own food could affect how the community views us. I occasionally wonder what the cashiers at Drug Mart or Walmart think of me when my groceries generally consist entirely of beer and snacks. The more opportunities we have to interact with the larger community of the City of Wooster, the more opportunities they have to see that weíre not just a bunch of rich college kids that party every Wednesday and weekend, and the more opportunities weíll have to see that they arenít just a bunch of small town hicks.