Taylor has failed at its "intentional community" goal.
This might isolate those of you readers who aren't Taylor students (which might be like 5 of you) but maybe you can take some of what I say to heart about your school. Taylor really emphasizes community. So much so that I pretty much consider the term "intentional community" a curse term. It's been drilled into my skull since the first day I stepped on campus. Taylor really wants to create in its students a unity and fellowship that should be unique to a Christian organization.
Here's the problem, they do very little to help with that community. Each dorm is really its own community, each major is sanctioned off, there are few chances to branch out and work in different areas of study. Despite their lofty claims, they do little to encourage it. Inter-mural sports are nothing special, dorm stereotypes persist despite all the talks and seminars they hold to get past them, and that individual sense continues.
Here's what it is, as mentioned above, Taylor does very little to facilitate a community. There are events, don't get me wrong. Silent Night and the Hollapalooza are both examples of Taylor events that draw crowds, but there's a problem. Despite the variety of people who arrived, individuals tend to stick with the friends they have from their dorm or from their major. The Professional Writers (at least some of them, myself not included) meet weekly for dinner. Sports players hang out together at practice and after. Groups and clubs keep to themselves. There is very little branching out among any groups.
The solution to this, at least on a small scale, is to make it easier to meet people of other majors. I am in PWR, and two classes I need to take are art classes, they are required by my major, yet I still have to ask for an override. It is so hard to get into different classes, classes that are nonessential and could be beneficial to other majors. Overrides are difficult to come by, and the circles we run in, at least academically are limited. One thing that administration could do is ease this process. Another thing would be more in need of volunteers, but could work. If there were more ways to set up small groups across dorms and majors, then in more personal settings, others could get to know each other. Heck, if we did more with open houses than just putting up signs saying we have a theme for this day, there might be more incentive to explore.
I don't know how to get around this. Essentially, you would be combating the clique mentality that we have all had for years. There is nothing wrong with this, but when you say your mission is to create a community, the administration needs to put work in. I wouldn't mind helping to create that community they want, where the entire campus is more than just superficial hellos when we see someone we might now from a class. That is what the administration is seeing incorrectly. Just because people say hello doesn't mean they are a community. They are polite, but maybe nothing more. Things can change, but they will take work from the top.
Admittedly, there are some weird people who I might not want to know too well.
Just something to chew on.
In defense of groups, I think they’re rather necessary. I know, we aren’t supposed to be “exclusive” and all that, but really, we need groups. We need them because in order to have any semblance of community at all, we need to get to know each other, and that’s kind of difficult to do on a large scale. In a group, you can develop some really good, really close friends, people you know you can trust and depend on. They become like a second family, and that’s great. It’s necessary for our—and their—well-being.
ReplyDeleteI am not saying we shouldn’t invest in other people—I’ll get to that in a bit—but rather, I’m saying we have limited time, and we certainly don’t have enough of it to become acquainted with everyone around us. It seems like a better idea to have some very close friends and some acquaintances, than to have a whole bunch of “friends” you barely know at all.
However.
I do agree with you that there is a problem. We do tend to have a clique mentality about things—sometimes conscious, sometimes subconscious—and it affects our interactions with people we barely know, if we even know them at all. I’ve seen this in all different forms: the “I would date you but you live in {insert dorm name here},” the “Oh, you’re one of *those* people” followed up by an eyeroll, the bashing of people from certain departments, and the utterly astounded exclamation of “Really?” when people finally find out you’re a part of a certain group and are *shocked* because they’ve “just never met a {insert group member here} who is like you are,” which is supposed to be a compliment, although it always leaves me wondering if they’ve ever actually talked to anyone from that particular group.
And yet, even though I think there is a problem, I do not think Taylor is ever going to be able to solve it. Why? Because ultimately, it comes down to the individual. While it would be nice—and might help—to have more social events and better chances of getting into non-major classes, there is still a problem. No matter how many opportunities you provide, if people don't want to change their views of particular people groups, they won't. Sometimes people want to stick everyone in boxes, and they just don't like it when we try to break out.
If we want things to be different, we are going to have to make the change, and we are going to have to start with ourselves. So what do we do? My advice is simply this: go out and do things. Go to events. Go to things where you don't know a lot of people. In fact, go to things where you might not know anyone. Go to things with friends and meet *their* friends. Try to take classes outside your major—not all of them require overrides. You will probably learn something new, and best of all, you might walk away with a friend.
If you want, you can start things, too. Start groups or plan events. Introduce your friends from theatre to your friends from intramural flag football. And watch yourself. Don’t jump to conclusions about a person based on where they live on campus, what they major in, or what kind of cereal they eat (alas, that last one has actually happened).
Just don’t neglect the friends you already have for the sake of “branching out.” That would be both sad and highly ironic.
For most of my life, I've never fit in anywhere. I've never been alienated for being myself at Taylor. Yes, there are groups, but since I'm not a particularly social person, the groups I'm in are enough for me.
ReplyDeleteAnd I've met a lot of random people across campus. If saying Hi isn't enough, try a "How are you?" Community doesn't start with the administration. It starts with the individual.
Individuals are important in community. "Friend matchmaking" is more successful than one might think, unlike it's counterpart, romantic matchmaking.
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