By Rob Arendt
For some it’s Thursday, for others, it’s Friday. It’s the beginning of the weekend, and for those living on campus, the question remains: do we go home this weekend?
It’s a question often repeated. CCSU’s campus sometimes seems like an empty western town with tumbleweeds blowing around and no one in sight. You find such a ghost town on Saturdays and Sundays as students leave campus to go home.
Why do people choose to leave their on-campus friends for the weekend? Is there a shortage of activities on campus? Does New Britain need more local hang-out spots and nightlife to keep students at CCSU over the weekend?
Sophomore Sara Weller has been living on campus since she began taking classes at CCSU. Weller says that the school provides great events and opportunities for students to meet new people.
“Every day I get the opportunity to meet new people within the residence halls, attend various programs and eat meals with friends,” said Weller. “I feel that the whole point of the college experience is to spend time away to prepare yourself for the real world.”
Still, the opportunities can be lacking on weekends. One problem that Weller finds is that while there are many events that take place, they are often during the week.
“Most of the campus events are only held during the week, so there is no incentive to stay,” Weller said.
Sophomore Natalia Konieczkowski commutes from her town 10 minutes away from campus. She said if she lived farther away, she would live on campus, and try to stay here because it would be unnecessary to go home every weekend.
“I think that you have to engage yourself in activities and be outgoing in order to make friends and stay in your dorm on the weekends,” she said.
Konieczkowski also finds CCSU to be too strict. “They can’t just ban all parties. Banning everything just causes students to rebel even more,” said Konieczkowski.
Sgt. Jerry Erwin of the CCSU Police Department said the department handles on-campus issues only. In regards to on-campus parties, there is no drinking allowed.
Scott Hazan, director of Student Activities and Leadership Development on campus, said that he doesn’t know the reasons why on-campus students go home on the weekends.
“[It could be] proximity to where they live so they’re close enough to go home,” said Hazan. “It could be a job, or friends at home. These are just guesses.”
Another possibility Hazan cited is the reality that most CCSU students are commuters. “We do have to realize that 70 percent, 80 percent of students are commuters and we try to satisfy both commuters and on campus students,” Hazan said.
Hazan also says that CCSU does not have events constantly going on every weekend, but the 120 to 130 clubs and organizations on campus do all the planning and ask the Central Activities Network for guidance with the events.
Students can find a Central Activities Network (CAN) bulletin board on the wall near the student center information desk. The board has all of the activities that take place during the week and that current month. Events and even movie showings are listed. The Inter Residence Council is in charge of all residence hall decisions and they are available to answer questions about any activities going on between the dorms.
Hazan said CAN is open to hearing ideas from students on how to make the campus more eventful, but the reality may simply be a bad reputation. Weller, the CCSU sophomore, believes that students have already heard of and automatically go home on the weekends because of what they have been told.
“I think students choose to go home on weekends because CCSU has the reputation of a suitcase college,” said Weller. “Once they hear a group of people go home on the weekends, everyone goes home so they don’t have to be lonely.”