I was recently forwarded the article on ?Tasker?s Pub? and fully support the idea. In my four years at UR, I witnessed a lot of students making tremendous contributions to UR with minimal recognition, and now an opportunity for a change has come.
I understand how UR has reached its current prestige, through its professors and the goodwill of its alumni.
I applaud everyone who has made such generous monetary donations to erect newer facilities such as the recently completed Alumni Gym. I am not against naming facilities after philanthropist, whose more than generous donations to UR funded much of the campus. I think undergraduates, perhaps, take for granted the impact that donations have made on the quality of life on campus.
However, that is another reason why I think the naming of the campus pub after a student who contributed his time, energy and vision towards its realization is a terrific idea.
As a classmate and friend of Sam Tasker, I know that he believed in the school. He had school spirit at UR when most people I knew were apathetic to the cause.
Who has not complained about the lack of spirit without offering a constructive solution? But he did, he offered the pub as place to foster school spirit.
I do not want to belittle the achievements of any of the numerous students who have done terrific things for UR by singling out Sam Tasker, but Tasker?s vision was and is a great one. Have a place on campus where student athletes and student achievements can be recognized, where current and future students can aspire to be memorialized.
Build spirit around the contribution of students. Instill the sense of ownership in the student body and the student body will reward UR.
At the very least, even if the decision is made not to name the pub after Tasker ? which I think should be its moniker ? reserve a stool in his name and the names of other students who gave their time for the benefit of their peers. They deserve that much for certain.
? Jonathan HopkinsClass of 2001
