Maroon News

Issue date: 4/15/05 Section: Commentary

POOR TASTE: Colgate F.A.C.T. should have known better than to hold their rally on April Visit Days

As I walked up the hill to campus this morning, I noticed the signs directing potential Colgate students and their parents as to where April Visit Days events were taking place. I had almost forgotten that it was the time of year when accepted high school seniors come to visit the campus, are given tours of the academic buildings and attend various informational and entertaining events that gave them a better idea of what being a Colgate student is about. I thought back to my April Visit Days experience and remembered how excited I was to see the place where I could potentially be spending my next four years. I had never visited the campus before, and had traveled a long way to visit it on this occasion. At the time of my visit, while I was open-minded about what Colgate had to offer, I was actually leaning toward confirming another school's offer of acceptance. While I recognized Colgate's strong academic program, it was Colgate's outgoing students, helpful administration and broad assortment of extracurricular activities and social options that immediately influenced me to change my mind. I wanted to be part of this community.

Today, I saw familiar looks of excitement and curiosity on the faces of potential students as I passed them on the sidewalk. They gave me nervous smiles, and I had the urge to tell them about my every positive experience I've had here and that if they came here, they would be happy. As I made my way further toward campus, however, I noticed a large cluster of these visitors and their parents. They were intently watching the scene across the street. What they saw was the large group of students and alumni at the F.A.C.T. rally being held on DKE's lawn. They listened to the students protesting the "unconstitutional" actions of the administration, who were accused of grossly overstepping its boundaries. They heard how Colgate was no longer an environment that students wanted to be a part of. One group of protestors standing near the edge of the lawn blatantly said to them "Don't come here." They continued to watch as the rally migrated up to James B. Colgate Hall. They absorbed all of the negative opinions, harsh words and biased viewpoints that were presented and were undoubtedly left with feelings of confusion. The prospectives looked let down and disappointed. Many of the parents just looked angry. I heard one parent say to another "So we're putting our kids into a dictatorship? Glad I came all the way from Washington for this..." I heard a prospective student say "But all the kids up the hill seemed pretty happy..."

Continued...

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