It was three-and-a-half years ago when I first joined the Campus Times, only a week into my tenure at UR. A lot has changed since that point. Starbucks and Rocky have entered our realm while the Mel Express and URBee have faded into mere memories. Goergen Hall and Pura Vida have revitalized the southern portion of the River Campus, while the new UHS building has permanently altered the Northern-end. Perhaps most dramatically of all, however, is that 3,000 students have graduated, moving on to the real world, while 3,000 others have taken their place in our world.
The physical changes at UR are reflected in the Campus Times in many ways as well. There’s no question that the newspaper has taken on a very different style since the time I arrived at UR. A set-style layout has been replaced by a flexible presentation that aims to provide readers with a new way of visualizing information. In addition to mere physical alterations, the focus of the paper has grown from being in the proverbial ‘bubble” to discussing local news.
We always hope to provide students, especially, with a guide to what the city of Rochester has to offer. Earlier this semester, the CT published its Best of Rochester section, ‘Get Out!,” which highlighted local restaurants, parks and shops. It is still available on our Web site’s archives at www.campustimes.org in case you would like to check it out.
All of these minor transformations make a difference. As Lauren Selby ’07 recently wrote in the CT’s online Alumni Spotlight blog, ‘The campus has changed so much that it does not feel like the school I went to for three years as an undergraduate.” I didn’t quite understand what she was saying until it hit me a few days later. There comes a time for everyone where, at certain points, you simply understand that it’s time to move on.
We’ve all experienced this before, like during senior year in high school when we realize that we need a new challenge to have the potential to experience new opportunities in college. These changes don’t mean that the University is no longer our school, but rather simply that we should expect these alterations to occur. In the spirit of our school’s motto, ‘Meliora,” we should truly embrace this tradition.
Yet it is important to recognize that the school’s spirit that existed nearly four years ago is really the same spirit of today. The student body is generally draped in apathy, is easygoing and noncompetitive. We are intellectually diverse. Our sports teams have remained strong across the board during the past four years.
Despite being classified as a ‘New Ivy,” our academic rankings have remained relatively consistent. Traditions like D-Day, the Boar’s Head Dinner and Meliora Weekend will be with us for years to come. Heck, the River Campus and Eastman are as disconnected as they’ve always been.
These observations are not meant to belittle the University or the student body in any way, but rather to demonstrate how reliable it has become as an institution. This continuity is what defines the UR community.
Keeping Selby’s observation in mind, it is critical for us to recognize that the campus may feel very different as our time at UR progresses. Our communal spirit, however, will take the University, as well as student-driven organizations like the CT, into the future.
Wasserman is a member of the class of 2010.
