A Sense Of Belonging
As college kids, show your colors to create a competitive campus.
There’s no escaping it. As college students, we’re bombarded daily with thousands of images, texts, and symbols. These communications attack our senses and force themselves to our attention; and this is just on the way to class! Every morning I see t-shirts, backpacks, and various other items with writing on students’ bodies, and each item represents a different ideal to each observer. I become angry at images I find contradictory to my beliefs, and I take pride in phrases I can relate to, but these images and phrases may have the opposite responses with others on campus. This division of ideas causes both subconscious and physical divisions between students on campus, resulting in clusters of students with similar mindsets. Writing on the body creates a sense of association with students through recreational and residential means.
There are many recreational activities and associations that are on campus, so many that every student is able to be seriously involved in some club, sport, or greek activity. Clubs and student organizations on campus commonly create t-shirts to build a sense of unity. For example, the Kung Fu club has a t-shirt that they wear at every test and competition. This way, those who participated at the competition can be proud to wear their shirt on campus because of the fond memory of time spent practicing and training with the club.
Sports games are always a uniting experience for a college. They provide a chance for the entire school to congregate and face a common opposition, forgetting about other rivalries that may exist. At events such as soccer and football matches, students all dress in Case-branded clothing. Some students paint themselves blue and grey, colors that allow the athletes to identify their fans during a game. The symbol of the Spartan carries tremendous weight in athletics as well; the mascot represents all of the sports teams, and therefore great pride is taken when fans see the mascot take the field. Fans come in droves bedecked in the team colors and Spartan outfits, creating a symbolic separation from the other team, and nothing beats the elation of seeing hundreds of fans in their team colors cheering on their home team. It is the ultimate sense of association in a united front against a common opponent.
With 30% of campus part of a fraternity or sorority, seeing greek letters on a t-shirt is commonplace. Fraternity-specific clothing not only marks the individual as a member of a larger group, but also is used as a tool of recruitment; if a freshman sees more students wearing a certain fraternity shirt, he’ll be more likely to remember them during fall and spring rush. In this way, greek letters not only create a feeling of association within members of a frat, but also within those looking to join.
Residential life is another way for students to join together. In freshman year, students are separated into three colleges, each consisting of three to four houses. Each college is dedicated to different ideals: Juniper is devoted to knowledge and multiculturalism, Cedar to the arts, and Mistletoe to service and leadership. Since Welcome Days, I’ve been told how great Juniper is and how the other colleges are disorganized and not nearly as focused on their mission statements as we are. I’m pretty sure the other colleges have been saying the same thing to their residents about us. This separation creates a rivalry, which manifests itself several ways. The college colors are one way of distinguishing who is a part of which college; Juniper is maroon, Cedar is yellow, and Mistletoe is green. Students are given not only t-shirts, but also pens, pencils, markers, key chains, and various other items with the residential college color and name.
Competition is the primary result of all of these associations. One group competes with the other to prove that they’re better, smarter, more physically fit, or for some other reason. Some degree of competition is necessary to create a true sense of association: “Competition is a painful thing, but it produces good results” (Jerry Flint, Forbes). These good results include a stronger unifying force against a common opposition and a greater drive to succeed. People tend to try harder when placed in an aggressive situation, and this will result in better overall performance athletically and recreationally, but more importantly academically. The academic planners at Case Western knew that, by creating a large number of clubs and fraternities, and by separating students by residential colleges, the overall result would be higher marks on tests. And the best way to promote this healthy competition? Through writing on the body.
Comments
Posted by: Debra Lynn
Posted on: September 23, 2007 04:59 PM
Hey Franco...
You did TONS of research! Wow, that was so informative! You've been reading your little Blue Book!!!
I like your method of comparing/ contrasting competition and togetherness here in the university.
But so what? What is your main argument? Perhaps I lost it in all of your research :-)
Posted by: Zach Rubin
Posted on: September 24, 2007 12:16 PM
Haha, I'd have to agree with you that the residential colleges say the same schtick about each other. I don't see much competition between the freshman residential colleges yet. IM football only has a storrs and cutler team...it's a shame there wasn't more competition...