Oooh, dear, I hear you. Moving is always a royal pain.

You will get to stay there until spring, right? So you've got plenty of time to find a new place, and you'll be on campus while you're looking. And you've got a good group of friends you already know you can live with to choose roommates from.

And what's this about "Living and Learning Centers"? I know the admin wants to draw lots of honours students -- it's one of the things they get points for when schools are compared in MacLeans and for funding. But, like, are honours students so lacking that they need to learn how to live? Do they need sheltering from the rest of the rabble? What can this "Center" teach them that the rabble can't?

I can just imagine them in four years: Yes, I learned a lot at school. They even taught us about life. I don't know how the rest of the students managed to learn it on their own. They probably got most of it wrong. I'm much better prepared for the next part of my life than they are, thanks to this sheltered real-world environment.

Then again, having known a few honours students, I can tell you that many of them were honours students because their parents insisted -- and without parents enforcing the hours of studying, the honours got lost. Or they were so smart that they didn't need the extra hours of studying -- so they had even more time than the "rabble" to mess up their lives.

Yep, maybe those poor honours students really need this Living and Learning Center.

You, on the other hand, seem to be managing quite well despite all they throw at you.

Oh, dear, do you think they're using you as a training ground for their management programs? We need the business students to learn how to handle unhappy customers, so let's create some for them to practise with.

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Between stimulus and response there is a space.
In that space is our power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our freedom.

- Viktor E. Frankl

What they are doing is they are taking the nice dorms and converting them into these "Living and Learning Centers" for their special programs. My first dorm turned into one for Honors students. This one is being turned into office space and a place for students in the Leadership program. Where they learn how to be leaders...


Yeah, I didn't buy that either. Basically the university is going through a "we wanna be prestigious" stage, but rather than actually going for it academically or something like that, they're building, well, buildings, and putting fancy labels on others and limiting their use to a select group. See, a university's coolness is determined by how picky it is. They give the nicest dorms to the students who join their programs. See? Prestigious. Who cares about the rest of the students?

We're just cannon fodder. ^_^

But basically, the "Living and Learning Centers" are places for those in the special programs so that the university can say "We have special places for people in our programs." And rather than continue on their building spree and actually build a place for them, they're kicking students out of the dorms, so that the special people can experience a true community, which means living with people who do everything you do, believe what you believe, etc., apparently. Boy, I've learned something today. I used to think that a dorm community was made up of people of different beliefs and majors.

This university's adminstrators are insane. They're trying to separate the students in the programs from everyone else. I don't have a clue what this accomplishes. I mean, ok, sure, have your little program that teaches people to lead. It's kind of weird, but hey, whatever floats your boat. But wouldn't they know a little bit more about leading if they were with regular people?

Cep, I agree with you, the university itself should be considered this. But our administration has just gone insane trying to get better status. I wish I could say that I honestly don't believe that, but I can't. Which sounds nicer: This is Dawson hall, where a bunch of female students live OR This is the Dawson Living and Learning Center, where our students in the leadership program live and learn together?

That's all they care about. They don't care about diversity, except when it comes to admittance and ratios and whatnot. They don't care if they rip an actual community apart or not, if they get to build their own little fake world.

And believe me, Meridian, they're going to learn. And I mean the head honcho. He's going to be there tonight, and so will I. I definitely have some choice words for him. None of them bad, mind you, but most angry with a dash of "How stupid are you?!"

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What if there is a spoon?

Well, it's turned into a catfight out there because girls who support the programs decided to come and cause fights. I got several applauses from my larger audience, but I was basically told, "Oh well, too bad," by the one that made the decision. I'll be looking for an apartment for next year. Wish me luck.

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What if there is a spoon?