“Why laundry at UP sucks.” “Parked Out.” “The forgotten UP population: Commuters.” “Why students at UP shouldn’t dorm in Mehling Hall.” Do you ever wonder what is on students’ minds beside GPA worries, exam anxiety and monitoring current events? The titles above provide a glimpse. Since 2019, I have been teaching four sections of ENG 107: College Writing per year. Each term I assign an “opinion” piece, for which students select a topic, conduct background research and craft an essay of around 900 words detailing why they care about the issue and why others should care too.
Each semester, The Beacon’s opinions editor volunteers to visit my classes to share best practices of this unique writing genre, a departure from traditional academic assignments. One of the key requirements is to select a topic of relevance to UP and/or student life. I also remind students to avoid turning their piece into navel-gazing diary entries or unhinged rants. I usually encourage the authors of the strongest essays to submit their work to The Beacon. A few have done so over the years (see this piece on phone addiction and this one on UP’s climate efforts, among others) but many do not, for a variety of reasons. I decided to write this piece to highlight what I have read over the years and to provide a snapshot of key recurring concerns among our student body. Administrators might find the following disheartening but also enlightening, and they might consider developing actionable plans to address these legitimate concerns, especially at a time of declining enrollment numbers and increasing skepticism toward the benefit of higher education in this country.
Issues students raise in their opinion pieces can be sorted around major areas or themes, including infrastructure, policies and costs. Bon Appetit comes in for a fair amount of criticism and deserves its own category. No one expects dorm life to be luxurious, but the stories I’ve read about certain residence halls (Mehling and Villa Maria primarily) were disturbing. Malfunctioning air conditioning and heating, regularly broken elevators and unreliable hot water for showers recur too often over many semesters to be rare incidents. More recently, laundry problems have been front of mind for many students, who deplore the cost and inconvenience of the current system in some dorms. Current residents will be relieved to hear that the university will implement free laundry beginning next academic year. Students have also become increasingly vocal around gender identity issues, such as the lack of gender-neutral residence options. Challenging living situations impact all areas of a student’s life, including academic success and mental well-being, and might play a role in decisions to leave the university (more on that below).
Since the pandemic, UP has faced serious financial issues leading both to cost-cutting measures and exploration of new revenue sources. The most (in)famous of the latter is arguably the two-year residency requirement, which seems unpopular among many students. Considering the living conditions in some residence halls, is it really surprising that many sophomores would prefer to live off campus? Student writers find the meal plan options especially inadequate, with criticism ranging from food costs to serving hours. As one opinion title points out, “Unfair Pricing in Mack’s Market” is a widely acknowledged problem. All this food talk leads of course to what I would argue is the monopoly of Bon Appetit as the only dining option on campus. Over the years, students have pointed out the lack of multicultural diversity in food offering, the portion sizes relative to cost, the sameness and blandness of food options and the inconvenient service hours. Student-athletes are most often the authors of these Bon Appetit exposés, and certainly deserve to be heard considering the challenges their complex academic, practice and away-game schedules present.
Another population overlooked and deserving of greater attention and resources: commuters. Among the numerous changes I have seen over my almost two decades on campus, our students’ backgrounds, experiences and identities have been the most in flux. UP might be primarily a residential institution, but many more students live at home to save on costs or work many hours off campus to support their education. For this population, parking is a regular nightmare, as the author of “Parked Out” laments. Not only do they have to pay for parking, but a parking spot is often nonexistent once they arrive, making them late to classes and adding stress to their day.
As the author of “Where is the Money Going?” suggests, UP could use some realignment of its spending priorities. Funds are tight, donations are restricted and wealthy donors would prefer to see their names adorn a brand new building than contribute to the “Mehling Refurbishment Fund” or the “Villa Maria Flooding-Proof Refresh.” But does the lawn really need to be mowed within an inch of its life monthly (my longtime pet peeve…), for instance? Could certain expenses be reallocated to improve students’ daily lives? Student writers appreciate much about UP, and the majority choose to stay, but if we are serious about achieving the highest retention rate possible, it behooves us to not only recruit and attract excellent students, but also to make sure their living conditions inspire them to stay. According to data from UP’s Institutional Research office, of the students who submit withdrawal forms, the top three reasons cited for leaving UP tend to be financial, issues at home or with family and issues with their program or major. Withdrawal forms offer limited information, but I suspect that between the lines, some unvoiced reasons might be the ones detailed in my students’ opinion essays.
Geneviève Brassard is a professor of English at the University of Portland. She can be reached at brassard@up.edu.
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Editor's note: A previous version of this opinion incorrectly stated that one third of students who submitteed withdrawal forms indicated financial reasons, one third cited family issues and another third cited issues with their major or program. The data show that of the students who submit withdrawal forms, the top three reasons tend to be financial, home or family issues, or major/program issues.
