Every year, once a year, UR takes the time out of its busy schedule to put on some makeup, clean up the house, and invite a whole bunch of people over for dinner. This of course is the vaunted Meliora weekend, and this year was no exception.
The skies were clear, the sun was warm, the leaves on the trees changed into their formal wear, and the fearless UR Yellowjackets football team took to the field. At Hobart.
Granted, last year’s showing by the boys in blue was less than impressive, but ask any fan of the Boston Red Sox – myself included – and they will tell you that seeing your team lose year after year is still far better than not seeing your team at all.
Our fair school took a few steps toward fixing this pretty obvious mistake, by replacing American football with European football at Fauver Stadium and running buses to and from Hobart – food included.
Unfortunately, my parents, for some unknown reason, were not too keen on the idea of the bus-and-boxed-lunch approach to the middle portion of our Saturday together. This little faux pas is only one of the many little speed bumps – along with the more literal Everest-sized speed bumps which are single-handedly ruining the undercarriages of a great many vehicles – that are holding this institution back from greatness.
There is an internal dichotomy between the school wanting to be a large university and a small liberal arts college, and this struggle is in part what leads to many of the problems we experience.
We have large lecture classes even at the upper levels, and an arts building which has all the style and shape of an 8-track player, and is not much bigger. We have a student union that boasts one of the largest brick facades of a building not to have a window, and one of the best and largest libraries I’ve ever seen.
We have a beautifully maintained football stadium with a bright green turf field, a track encircling it and lights so that we can even play at night, but no homecoming football game. There’s also the best hospital in the region and the worst campus cable since the Dumont Network.
I’ve experienced this frustrating scenario – where something is not even close to living up to its potential – before in high school, and it’s maddening. The university needs to stop fixing what isn’t broken – see all the articles on the Frat Quad and meal plans for details – and start fixing the small things which are.
We are so close to being great that we can taste it, we just need to take those last few crucial steps.
Because I assure you, it takes no great mental leap to realize that the friends and family of the university would rather watch the homecoming football game on our field than on any other.
Voigt can be reached at svoigt@campustimes.org.
