Dean Tuttle's Trinitoninan Columns

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August 23, 2002

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Take advantage of 'do-over' campus

I hope you get it right this time. This is the type of University where parents wish they could go to school if they got a second chance. Me too. I call it a great "do-over" campus, with all the advantages of engaging professors, outstanding facilities, exciting lectures, decent rooms, and pretty good food. Ah, hindsight. You, of course, are getting your first shot at it. I hope you make the most of it.

I hope you do something you might not otherwise do: audition to be in a play, take an art class, ask a person sitting alone at Mabee to join you, become a country-western dancer (Roper), sign up for a University committee, or write a letter to the editor. I hope you find a good parking space every once in awhile, but that you don't get mad when you don't. I hope you hang out at the outdoor pool. I hope you meet Mikelynn Romero and Becky Spurlock before you are a senior. I hope you find the Guenther House and the zoo, and follow the San Antonio Spurs. I hope you attend a lecture not just for extra credit, and don't leave early because of an intramural game.

I hope you play intramurals, though. I hope you go to the Bell Center a few times a week. For exercise. I hope you learn to appreciate the purity of Division III sports. I hope you get to know an athlete. If you are an athlete, I hope you develop a friendship with someone who isn't. I hope you go watch something you don't understand - like lacrosse. I hope the ball doesn't hit you. I hope you try food from the vegetarian line at Mabee once in awhile. I hope you eat small portions and avoid food that comes individually wrapped.

I hope you attend every single class you have. I hope you take off your baseball cap when you get there and that you read the material, even if it is optional. I hope you go to faculty office hours, even without a question. I hope you are as interested in your professors as they are in you.

If someone back home asks if Trinity is a religious school, I hope you say yes. I hope you find peace. I hope you do community service because you think it is the right thing to do.

I hope you never drink alcohol because someone tells you that you have to. I hope you go to parties and don't always drink. If you get drunk, I hope you are with a good friend who is sober. I hope you are a good sober friend. I hope you don't break things that aren't yours. I hope that if you get sick in a stairwell, you don't expect another human being to clean it up. I hope that if someone in your residence hall is too loud, or displays something on their doors or in their windows that is offensive to you, that you tell them that it bothers you. I hope you get to know them. I hope if people tell you that you are offending them, that you treat them well and get to know them too.

I hope you don't expect to be perfect and that you don't expect the University and other people to be perfect. I hope you don't believe everything you hear. I hope your roommate is the first to know that you are upset with him or her. I hope you both win at Nintendo. I hope you never sleep on someone else's floor. I hope you don't make your RA and Mentor do all the work. I hope you send cookies to your family once in awhile. I hope you date another student, both knowing full well you won't be life-long partners. I hope you stay friends. I hope you figure out what diversity means and then look for it and share it. I hope you look up and smile at other people when you walk on campus, and say hello to strangers. I hope that you think twice before you hit "send"… and "reply."

I hope you get it right this time. This is the type of University where parents wish they could go to school if they got a second chance. Me too. I call it a great "do-over" campus, with all the advantages of engaging professors, outstanding facilities, exciting lectures, decent rooms, and pretty good food.

I hope you leave here very different from who you were when you came here. I also hope you leave here the same person you have always been - just more so. I hope you don't compromise your values, that you figure out what those are, and that you stand up for what you believe in. I hope you succeed - I hope you fail - I hope you learn. I hope you leave here with few regrets. I hope you get it right this time.

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