Campus Memories

I am and was a nerd. For as long as I can remember. That made me different. I didn’t like being different. I hid from being noticed as different. Later I came to realize I was/am gay. A universe of hiding swarmed over me. I did not dare be visible as a gay person.

OK. That being said, I buried myself in study. I attended a very good college in the middle of the prairie (Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois). After a freshman year of self-exploration (and poor grades), I returned sophomore year for serious study and succeeded. Right to the end of my senior year, I got very good grades. I exited college with a mature sense of self and hopes for a good career. 

My undergrad campus life was good but not a party atmosphere. Others indulged, but not me. I enjoyed the occasional drink but that was not a focal point. Relationships with others and studies were good enough for me. And sex? Good Lord, no! I was still in hiding. It was the first half of the 1960’s after all.

More exploration in careers followed. Then I entered seminary on the campus of the University of Chicago. The campus was much larger than Knox, but still very nerdy. Serious studies by serious students. The bulk of the U of C’s student body were graduate students. Then and now, the campus was hardly a typical place of fun, parties or even drunkenness. No, U of C students, and certainly seminarians, were very serious and goal oriented. Back in those days, certainly.

I changed my mind on seminary, left after one year and returned to industry, this time in human resources for an insurance company. It was not a normal company. This one was focused on positive mental attitude and doing well by others. By a turn of fate, I was involved in a special project that brought me attention at the University Of Illinois at Chicago. I was offered a job and remained there for 18 years.

Again, UIC’s campus is not the usual. At that time it was 100% commuter student life. Daytime campus life was pretty much a rigorous schedule of classes, study, research and off to work. And lots of commuting. Then back for another day of the same. My job was to instill more social interaction for the entire campus community. Without dorms, that was a tough job. But we succeeded anyhow. Still UIC was not a party school.

Later I enrolled at UIC for a master's degree while still working there full time. It took four years but I finished it. The experience involved me much more in student life, but I was much older than my classmates and of course I was part of the administration. That was not normal. There was more social life then, but I still had a long commute, a wife and kids at home, and a demanding job. I was still all business!

Turn to today. Today COVID-19 reigns supreme over all campus life. Wherever the campus, life is subdued. When it isn’t, COVID rushes in. Remote learning is much evident. Some campuses are still closed and remote learning rules for all their enrolled students. This raises the question: what value will campus life be to current students?

The answer is an unknown. Experience will provide the answer. Meanwhile, those living it will need to be open to their safety, the safety of others, and still discern the needs of everyone. Online communications most likely will take on new openness and caring. Facetime apps and Zoom will add to the connection among students. And families. Telecommunications make it easy to keep in touch with family back home. In my day it was weekly letter writing and a very rare phone call (pay phone, long distance, 1000+ miles). Not so in 2020. Cell phones, Facetime and Zoom are readily used.

It will seem odd participating in an old fashioned bull session electronically. But the validity of the intellectual exchange is in the depth of thinking, not the smile, drink or food at hand. Who knows, maybe COVID classes of the 20’s will have more authentic relationships than we did?

My hunch is students will build on their communication skills learned on Facebook, Instagram, email, Spotify, or whatever. They will apply their skills to advancing their understanding of each other AND their academic interests. I believe they will invent totally new ways of being in the moment and thriving. They will write new novels, plays and screenplays, they will develop new forms of expression and meaning, they will create new dance, art, science and...life! 

I have faith they will turn this scary time into something good. Very, very good.

I'm betting on them and wishing them well.

August 28, 2020