School Spirit Sees Steady Decline in Recent Years

Do All Hawks Truly Fly Together?

Last weekend, the Univer­sity had its annual Battle of the Buildings. My roommates and I were excited to take on the other teams and sport our amazing tie-dye t-shirts. However, when we did arrive there was a little bit of disappointment. The quad was quite empty and the teams only had about seven or eight people each. The occasional passerby would stop and cheer for their prospective dorm, but the pep was still lacking a bit for the af­ternoon.

Since my freshman year, I have noticed that students do not have the same amount of pride as they used to, or they just do not out­wardly show it anymore unless it is at big events that everyone is going to, or there is the bribe of free food and prizes. Even then, it seems like there is no support. Whatever happened to partici­pating because a person wanted to show that they supported their University?

Last year during a few bas­ketball games that I went to, it seemed that it was always the same Monmouth students there cheering on our athletes. It was great to see students with their faces painted and chanting on our Hawks and heckling the other teams. Still, it would have been nice to see an increase of students at all the games and not just the ones where there were free t-shirts. There seems to be a certain type of apathy that has spread amongst students, and it is a little bit upsetting to see that people are not taking the initia­tive to show pride in their school, especially with the smaller events that happen on campus.

Even at tables, I see people just walk on by because they cannot be bothered with a Greek Orga­nization trying to raise money or a club handing out pamphlets to get the word out. It was painful to see people say they did not have the time and then sit at a table or bench nearby on their phones or chatting with friends.

Would it really hurt to take that minute to hear what some­one has to say? Have we really gotten to that point in our soci­ety where we do not even want to hear about an even unless it is posted all over Facebook or in five different emails from the University?

Everyone has busy sched­ules, and there are times when we simply do not want to be bothered when the day is full of class, tests, work, and home­work. There is a difference be­tween politely declining because of a hectic day and just outright ignoring people. I have had my fair share of days where I want­ed to do nothing but go to class and not stop to buy tickets for a fundraiser or fill out an interest form for a club, but I still try to be courteous by coming back at a later time. Do not dismiss other organizations that you are not part of. You could be missing out on an opportunity that you could enjoy.

As a school, we are all sup­posed to work together in order to have the best experience here at the University both academi­cally and socially. While it is physically impossible to go to every event on campus, the ones that you can go to can make all the difference. Is sitting in your room chatting on Facebook really going to help you socialize with people? Getting together with a group of friends to check out a program or event on campus will not only show school spirit, but it could also be a chance for you to bond and find a sense of com­munity here. Isn’t that the reason a good portion of us went away to school, to try something dif­ferent? Even if you go alone to an event, you may be pleasantly surprised what new experiences you find, or who you meet while supporting your fellow Hawks.