Where were you when Cabrini College died?

by John "Dark Knight" Dell'Osa

I've never hated this school. Sure I've disagreed with a lot of their practices, but isn't that the way everything works in the world. It is said that every five minutes a great Cabrini injustice is happening to another student on campus, but as a student you learn to just take the nonsense on the chin as being just another part of the college experience. So I ask you, what the hell is going on around here? When did Cabrini College become such a hostile environment? I'm expecting to pass the front gate and see a big sign reading "under new management!" Now nothing is acceptable, there is no comfort factor in anything you do and the first people you point the finger at for this great injustice is the administration. Well I'm here to say what I and every other student on campus believes, the finger is well pointed.

I find it hard to believe that it's just a coincidence the drop in morale happened at the same time the new administration took over. Every basic human right has been violated this year at Cabrini since day one and the residents aren't the only ones affected. The faculty is upset, the commuters feel discarded, and the parents are pissed.

Just think Cabrini, how many parents are going to send another one of their children to such a place? How many successful graduates are going to talk about Cabrini's poor business ethics that, for example, may distance employers from the co-op and career services program? How many more mistakes have to be made before the school realizes that they're shooting themselves in the foot.

It's scary up here. I have never seen so many people as collectively miserable in my entire life. Student body morale is at an all time low, and it is noticeable in every step I take on this campus. Everybody feels violated, beaten down and tossed aside, and they have every right too. Every basic value and moral that is taught at this school is being contradicted in the actions of the administration. We're being lied to and treated like children and contrary to popular belief we're adults, and we take offense to it. The administration openly admits that they feel our generation is naturally defiant, well everybody is a product of their surroundings, and our surroundings were established by prior generations.

It's bad enough that we're stereotyped, but we're generalized. This is a big issue in many of the courses that are taught here, breaking stereotypes and understanding individuals. We're paying more money to go here then many of the nationally known colleges and universities in our area, and this is the type of administration the school wants to have? This school stunts creativity and social interaction on a level that can most properly be described as punishment. Why have we been punished? Is it because of the school's lack of administrative talent in past years? Or maybe it's due to admissions accepting too many people when they knew they didn't have the facilities to house them. Well sure, these are just two random examples, but if it's not these, then what is it? We are sick and tired of paying for other people's mistakes around here. It seems like the more money we pump into this machine, the less we get in return and it has to stop now.

I live in an all twenty-one year old apartment, and we usually have some form of alcohol in our fridge. While I was writing this article I was sitting at my computer with a beer, just calming my nerves and having a casual drink. My friend, who is twenty years old I might add, dropped by after his night class and popped into my bedroom to chat. We sat and had an hour conversation about philosophy, while the whole time the alcohol content in the room never exceeded the 12 ounces of beer I had already started to polish off. After he left I sat back to review my topic and realized I was just in a situation where the both of us could have been collectedly fined for about two hundred dollars. That totally disgusted me.

The fact is there was a very slim chance an authority figure would have came in during this deviance from my work, but if they did, for all intents and purposes I was being irresponsible and defiant in my conduct. It shouldn't have to be like this. The no-tolerance issues schools can say that after one month of operation, over fifty percent of their first year students hate the place and want to leave before next semester. This is true, but they don't want to advertise that on their website. I don't consider this a "community that is conductive to academic achievement" or "an opportunity for personal growth and the development of leadership and human relation skills," yet that is exactly how the 'publicity' department states it. on this campus have breed an environment in which I can't even be comfortable having an unannounced guest, for an intelligent conversation for fear of the college pointing a finger at me for being disrespectful to the codes of conduct. The problem also is that in situations when you're not breaking any "rules," you're always on edge and looking out for the thing that just might put you in a bad place. I was talking to the director of public safety during a break on Sound Reason this Monday, the WYBF talk show that pulled in possibly the most listeners in the station's history. When I brought up a similar situation he basically told me that if I feel like I should constantly be looking over my shoulder then they're doing their job. Well if this is their job, I think we should change the name of the Student Development office, because I don't consider breeding mistrust "development." Speaking of office names, can anybody tell me why the name of the Resident Life office was changed to Residence Life? Is it possibly because the office is now more concerned with the buildings then the students themselves? Think about it. These are the types of things they're hoping that as these classes graduate and new troops come aboard, they'll have never known any better to complain. Well how right is it to think like that? What happened to taking care of the here and now in an effort to better the future? When you go online and read the way other people view the school for consideration, it's disgusting to think how low they would stoop to bring more money in, the funny thing is that this is something that the freshman have already realized. How many other

Think seniors, this is the last chance you have to truly have this type of experience with these particular people. Just think about how many of your high school friends you still see.

No matter how much you hate to admit it, things are going to change after the diplomas are handed out. Why must we wake up every day wondering what the next great injustice is going to be? You're going to wake up on your first day of the summer realizing that it's all over and it's never coming back.

We were cheated, and we would simply like the situation resolved. We've had everything that meant anything to us stripped away for the good of the school's public image, and we've felt that we've had absolutely no say in the matter. If this school has in fact discarded their mission statement to become a selfish money-hungry business, you'd think they'd remember the first rule of retail, the customer's always right.

I'd now like to take this time to tell the school something. With every pen stroke that someone in power makes around here to further destroy the community aspect, the school slowly loses more and more respect. If this goes on for an entire year, I can't even fathom the amount of poor publicity and bad business this place is going to receive. And in two to three years when the entire administration has to be overhauled again to find another grand solution to another problem they've created for themselves, we're not even going to be around to say "I told you so." After treatment this disgusting I can guarantee that you and your wallets will never hear from any of us again, and what a shame that is for so many people to think so low of their alma mater.