Saint Anselm College has a problem. A big one at that. With changes, both major and minor, coming to the campus there seems to be a common theme. That theme is a lack of understanding of tradition and respect for the student. The student which pays the college thousands of dollars a semester to go to this amazing school. I say this in light of several changes both big and small.
The first issue being the changes to the Conversatio program. The reform to the program has for lack of better words been unfortunate.
Whether the Conversatio committee wants to admit this fact or not, the program goes against the college’s mission for a catholic liberal arts education. This new version of the course flat out near replaces all elements of the mission. Some changes that come to mind is the lack of the classics as well as the elimination of the Rule of St Benedict.
I have said this before and I will say it here, it feels like there is a catering to a small chunk of students who were very vocal about not liking
Conversatio. Everyone else either enjoyed the program in some capacity (emphasis on in some capacity)or flat out does not care enough tohave an opinion on it and that is completely ok.
What is really bothersome about this reform is that they are requesting student feedback and appear to not be taking said feedback. Ihave spoken to many that have submitted their thoughts and they have expressed the similar sentiment I previously mentioned. They’re not
listening nor do I think they will.
The second issue is the refurbishment of Davison Hall. The chairs, tables, and the hall itself were designed to be larger yet identical to the dining hall in the Monastery. This design in a way keeps us as a community connected. Instead the chairs and tables were replaced by what
appear to be chairs made from fake wood.
Now let me ask the reader this question; would you buy an old Davison Hall chair if you could? If you said “yes” too bad because they decided to break every last one of the chairs and tables and throw them into the dumpster.
Dining Services and Administration should in some regard be ashamed of themselves. Not just for replacing the iconic chairs and tables,
but for not finding some way to repurpose them whether it be selling or donating them.
They were 40 years old. They spanned generations and yet they were treated with disrespect. We have programs like FCF for a reason. It is honestly a mockery of the tradition and heritage of Saint Anselm College and its community.
here is also another issue: The school has removed paper towels from a vast majority of bathrooms and dorm buildings across campus.
They have left the hand dryers to use. I’m gonna be honest, I thought that after dealing with a global pandemic I figured we could have learned that air dryers actually spread more germs but what do I know? As miniscule this issue is in the grand scheme of things, I felt that this was also worth noting.
It feels as if Saint Anselm is focusing less on quality and tradition and more on whatever the cheaper and easier option is from the vast issues both big and small. It’s easy to just eliminate and disregard the College mission; it’s easy to throw away chairs and tables full of tradition and legacy; it’s cheap to save some money on paper towels. This is a narrative that we as a community need to engage in