When I envisioned the time in my life in which I would break away from my childhood restraints and attend college, I saw myself being given the responsibility of having to make mature decisions, as well as having to sketch the outline of my life. I expected there to be certain temptations, such as sexual desires, alcohol, and a variety of other things that would attempt to block my path. I was confident that I could overcome whatever came my way during these exciting times, but surprisingly, I haven’t been given the chance to since arriving at ENC.
ENC is known for providing students with a campus that allows spiritual and personal growth, supposedly without the sinful temptations that plague many other campuses. While this campus may sound like the ideal place for growth, the penalties of attempting to completely remove all temptation from adult lives will eventually take their toll.
Every student on this campus is an adult. While I do agree that there should be certain supervision to guide students in the correct moral direction, we should also be afforded the opportunity to face these challenges on our own. What happens when we graduate and have to go into the world by ourselves? If someone is faced with a tempting situation, what happens when they no longer have the support system that was provided at ENC? Beyond ENC’s borders, there are no open dorm hours, anti-drinking policies, or resident assistants for support.
One of the major problems that is holding this school back from truly growing and maturing is the iron grip that the school tightens around students on a consistent basis. It is one thing for certain rules to be put into effect for good reason, but it is another thing entirely for people to be completely controlled for four years.
One prominent example of this is the strict scheduling of open-dorm hours for most students. This system of ill-trust is placed on the campus populace by the misplaced fear of sexual activity running rampant if unchecked. Under the unbreakable word of the Community Covenant, no student of the opposite sex is permitted inside of the opposite gender’s dorm except on the scheduled days. The hours that do permit guys or girls in the dorms are very limited. The only people that are practically immune to this biased rule are the privileged bourgeoisie that reside in Young Apartments. Why should they receive special treatment as opposed to the rest of us? Even though they still have some limits to their open dorm hours, theirs are still drastically expanded in comparison to the rest of the dorms.
It is a mystery as to why this archaic rule would even still be in effect in the first place. It is a dusty relic of past generations that should be eliminated. While this is only one specific issue that I have decided to bring to light; there are many others that should be openly questioned in a democratic fashion.
If ENC does not make some radical changes, what hope can there be for anything other than minimal expansion in the future, ultimately ending in an eventual structural implosion? Starting with small changes such as eliminating open dorm limitations, as well as pumping new blood into other dead policies, would help set this school on the right path to an extensively long and healthy life.
I love this school and everything that it intends to stand for, and I would love to see it thrive throughout the ages. The only thing that needs to happen now is for someone to take the first small step to ignite radical change.