Family Weekend is upon us, when hordes of parents descend upon Tucson to see what exactly their beloved spawn have been up to down in the Dirty T. I myself have never received a visit from my parents during Family Weekend. Not because they hate me or anything, they just live in Phoenix and I go home often. Plus, what I stock my college-kid fridge with is between me, God and the Daily Wildcat community (four separate jars of pickles and approximately 23 different types of sauces). However, even without a parental visit, I can’t help but feel a vibe shift in the week leading up to Family Weekend, now called Bear Down Week as of last October.
Bear Down Week is meant to serve as a midterm morale boost during week six (notably, midterm isn’t technically until week eight but what am I, the academic calendar authority?), with a full slate of events culminating in the Fall Fest and Bear Down Friday on University Boulevard. According to Amanda Kraus, vice president for student affairs, Bear Down Week was created “as a chance to check in, remind them of resources and help them connect with our campus community.” Of course, that’s what they want you to think.
Isn’t it a little strange that Bear Down Week falls right before Family Weekend? The weekend in which many parents see how their child has been doing for the first month and a half of the year. For many, this is the first time students are seeing their family since leaving to start the semester. Often, said parents are the ones footing the tuition bill at the University of Arizona, so it would make sense why the university may or may not want to butter up kids in the week leading up to everyone’s folks coming to town.
It should also be noted that according to research done at the Eller College of Management, the most common time for students to decide to drop out is during the first 12 weeks of their first semester. Now call me crazy, but I’d bet that many students who haven’t had a great time may see their parents and decide they aren’t built for the UA. Worse even, their parents might not be coming to visit, and seeing everyone else with their families may make them truly internalize how much they miss home. However, with some free Kona Ice and more opportunities for socializing right before families arrive, students may be a bit less doomer about the whole college thing.
Don’t get me wrong, the events are great. I, by happenstance, wandered upon the Residence Hall Association’s Silent Rave, which was very well put together and also gave out copious amounts of free stuff. Events like this are a great way for freshmen and out-of-place juniors such as myself to get closer with the community. However, you have to wonder why events like this don’t happen more. Yes, I’m aware, events do happen all the time, but the sheer volume and quality of events during the first 12 weeks of the school year (before it’s even cool enough to enjoy most of them) can’t be ignored.
And it isn’t just school-sanctioned activities. Many of the apartments around University Boulevard, particularly those managed by Core Spaces, are on best behavior. Not to doxx myself or anything, but I reside in ōLiv Tucson, and real ōLiv-heads would know that our elevators have been either completely broken or had only one operating for the past two weeks. “Oh boohoo,” you say, “go cry into your wallet, people are dying.” To which I say, yeah, fair. However, ōLiv Tucson is 14 stories tall. There were multiple days in which we were told we had to use the stairs because they were “moving appliances in the elevators.” After walking home from class in 105-degree weather, having to climb almost 10 flights of stairs had me seeing sounds and smelling colors. Not to mention that, besides being a touch out of shape, I am entirely able-bodied. I know for a fact that there are residents both on my floor and on floors above me who use mobility aids such as canes and wheelchairs. What were they supposed to do? Roll up the stairs?
When one of the elevators finally came back online, it would take 10 minutes to hopefully catch it going up or down, assuming it wasn’t so packed that you physically could not squeeze in. We received very little communication beyond something along the lines of “yeah we gotta get parts for the elevator gang it’ll be a bit but we’ll let you know (maybe). In the meantime, who wants free coffee in the lobby?!” However, surprise surprise, a second elevator goes back up seemingly just in time for everyone’s parents to see where their $2,000 is going every month. I didn’t even put two and two together until I was walking back from class and noticed they were washing the front windows and trimming the flowerbed with unreal attention to detail. Funny how that works.
It makes sense too; not only are parents visiting their kids already living in the apartments, but many are going with their child to tour potential pads. It’s for this reason that Core Spaces is hosting a “Tailgate Takeover” with a different pop-up at each of their properties. They want to shuffle as many families through their buildings as possible, hoping that with parents (and checkbooks) present, students will sign leases.
But I digress; the fact that people are putting effort into everything right now isn’t what makes me mad. I think it’s great that we can have weeks for mindfulness, especially in the midst of midterm mania. What upsets me is the fact that any beneficial student experience is akin to a steak and lobster dinner before getting deployed to the Middle East.
There’s a concept with social media that we, as the consumers, are not the customers but instead the product for companies hoping to capitalize on our attention. I find Bear Down Week, or any other borderline PR event, to be similar. The students the events are put on for aren’t really the priority here. The point is that the real customers, the parents who pay for tuition and rent, are satisfied by their child’s experience.
Wildcat Events Board, Cats After Dark, Campus Recreation and every other organization that has helped put events on are not the problem. They have done amazing things with a budget that I can only bet is ungodly small in the grand scheme of university stuff. The issue is that oftentimes, the university and the corporations that revolve around it only care to put on events like this when it’ll help their public image, and by extension their bottom line. After all, you never know whose dad is going to donate a new football locker room after a Family Weekend rager.
