It’s still relatively quiet on campus since the bulk of the students won’t start moving back in until the weekend. The days of plentiful parking at all hours of the day are coming to an end.

Your students will maybe notice some changes when they get back. At least one of the big trees near the Polo Road entrance was taken down, as were one or two big trees outside of Winston Hall (bio building). Have not had the chance to talk to my sources yet, but am assuming that the reason for the trees coming down was that they were unhealthy and/or at risk of falling. We do not cut down trees lightly on this campus. In 1987, the year before I started, we had gorgeous big trees on the Quad and they got Dutch Elm Disease and had to be cut down. When I arrived for Orientation, there were these itty-bitty twigs and upperclassmen were still actively mourning the loss of the big elms. Great story – appropriate for Throwback Thursday – on the old trees.

For those of you with young women here for sorority recruitment, today and tomorrow can be difficult days because Potential New Members are/will be finding out where they have – or have not – gotten invitations back to, and there can be some unhappy ladies if their chapter of choice does not want them. Please urge your PNMs to persist in the process. Every single organization will offer fun and fellowship and date functions and t-shirts and the whole nine yards. Remind your daughters that it may be far more advantageous to keep going back to the chapters that are interested in them than to drop out of the process altogether when they still have options on the table. And if your student is struggling with their outcome, urge them to connect with their Gamma Rho Chi (Greek Recruitment Counselor), RA, etc. Lots of support out there.

And for those whose Deacs will soon make the trip back to campus, wishing them all safe and easy travels! We can’t wait to have them all back with us.

 

— by Betsy Chapman, Ph.D. (’92, MA ’94)

Recent Posts

Archives