As I read Gretchyn Lenger’s Sept. 2 Column, “Listen up freshmen…this column’s for you,” I couldn’t stop thinking about those freshmen who paused over a cup of coffee to hastily read the column, addressed to them, before rushing off to their two jobs, or home to mow the lawn and make dinner for the kids.

I want to belatedly, yet respectfully welcome all freshmen to university life, which flourishes in an adult atmosphere. The 18- and 19-year-olds Ms. Lenger has in mind are adults, though she sarcastically belittles them to the rank of high school freshmen pushing pennies on initiation day.

What good does it do any of us to again hear that dorm food tastes bad, that dorm rooms are crowded and that the community bathrooms resemble “cattle cars?” In light of the upcoming Unity in Diversity Week, this spoiled-child attitude is inappropriate—forgets that many readers’ living conditions and self-images improved the day they moved into the dorms.

I do understand that in her column Ms. Lenger ridicules the craziness of Greek Row beer bashes; still, she offers no alternative “social activities available to freshmen,” except partying in dorms rooms. My ideas may not fit in with the mood of her piece, but what about art exhibits, films, guest speakers, sports events, rec center facilities, parks and forest preserves, concerts and recitals, plays and dance productions? Taking advantage of these activities is a large part of the unique, invaluable, informal education that makes our university learning complete.

Welcome, freshmen. And as my mother always said about getting the most out of something: it’s what you make of it.

Karole Bolin

GTA

English