EDITORIAL: The freshmen are coming!
UHCL has been preparing to meet the educational needs of freshmen and sophomores, but now that the university will be a four-year institution starting next fall, it’s time to start planning for a more traditional college experience for all students.
The university is expecting to add between 300-400 new students in the 2014 fall semester. Adjustments have been made to the campus to accommodate the incoming freshmen and sophomore students.
The University Forest Apartments have set aside a small section of apartments called Hawk’s Landing. These apartments will be designated as dorms for freshmen students and will be supervised by a Resident Adviser.
Since the apartments will include kitchens, meal plans will not be offered for freshmen. UHCL already set up an arrangement that brings a variety of food trucks to campus to feed the overflow of hungry students from the Patio Café. (Check out www.campusdish.com for schedules and menus.)
The university has also created the Office of Orientation and New Student Programs. Starting this summer, each freshman will have to attend a mandatory orientation session before registering at UHCL, as will sophomores and undergraduate transfer students.
Additionally, since the UHCL community decided on the Hawk as its mascot, the Fitness Zone will be starting recreational sports teams.
Hopefully, these improvements will benefit the entire campus. It would be fantastic for UHCL to evolve into a campus that has a football team, cheerleaders and even more school spirit.
Maybe, eventually, the campus can have real dorms and meal plans for all students on campus. Greek life is normally a big part of traditional college life and would be a great addition to the campus.
More on-campus events such as student performances, celebrity guest speakers and plays each semester would really improve the culture and atmosphere on campus.
In the 1980s, UHCL offered a variety of aesthetic classes and extracurriculars. A company of nine dancers, “Dance Collective,” put on numerous performances throughout its duration.
Extracurricular sports such as touch football, tennis, ping-pong and soccer held tournaments frequently.
The Bayou Building once housed an on-campus bar called “The Pub” where students, professors and administrators could order up libations.
A gym and theater once existed in the Developmental Arts Building, now the Delta Building. The Satellite Theater on campus brought plays ranging from Arthur Miller’s “After the Fall” to original works written by students and faculty to the UHCL community.
It is time to bring these traditional aspects back to UHCL and embrace its past as it ushers in the future.
Just think – these programs existed at UHCL in the 1980s when the campus was an upper-level university, just as it is now.
Currently, UHCL boasts 84 student organizations, and adding fraternities and sororities might help the university move to being a more traditional institution.
Attending events held by an on-campus theatre troupe, debate club or school band would keep students around after class and might help boost the publicity and reputation of the university.
The fact that UHCL is transitioning into a four-year university will be great for the school and the Clear Lake area. The younger students might improve the morale and lighten the mood of the UHCL campus and surrounding areas.
UHCL should retain some of the non-traditional uniqueness that is integral to its identity as a four-year university. Students, faculty and administrators should look even further in the future and start adding back components we once enjoyed that traditional four-year universities enjoy.
