 "Photo: Richard Bowie | Chronicle photo")
As an older returning student, I’ve used lots of the resources provided at CSUSB to assist my re-entry into college life.
Most of these have proved helpful.
One however, has not: The Osher Adult Re-Entry Center located in the Student Union.
I’ve been back at school now for over a year. Now and then, I’d wander into the Adult Re-Entry Center to do some studying or to relax between classes.
Invariably, the center would be filled with young teenage students loudly yelling back and forth, often using profanity.
Music would blare from a radio and if I stood around inside the door long enough, someone who worked there would eventually, and rudely ask, “Can I help you?” as if they’d really rather not.
After spending several hours inside the center trying to study for a test, I had enough of hearing rowdy guys shout back and forth at each other about their sexual prowess while calling each other racial epithets.
I left and never went back.
On its website, the Osher Adult Re-Entry Center describes itself as, “an inviting place for you to be part of a community of folks much like yourself.”
That wasn’t really the case for me and other adult students I’ve talked to about it.
Now I’m not saying I’m against having younger people in the center. I love that the Student Union’s Centers aren’t supposed to be only for one type of people. I think its great that men are free to enjoy the Women’s Center’s services and that the Pride Center is a safe zone for all.
I don’t care who is in the center, I just think that the people in charge of the center itself should preserve its intended environment.
I realize that I’m in college, and actually many of my friends here are in their teens and twenties. I hang out with them a lot and really don’t mind loudness or even profanity (I definitely have no room to talk there!).
I just think that if there is going to be a place set aside on campus that’s supposed to make me feel comfortable, then I should feel welcome and comfortable there.
I’ve heard from younger students who don’t frequent the Student Union that much, that it’s a place for cliques and “groups” and not really for them.
Maybe the people who work in the Adult Re-Entry Center and any other centers in the union should remember their intended audience and that their offices weren’t meant to be an exclusive hang-out for their friends.
To the Adult Re-Entry Center, all I ask is that you at least enforce some kind of respectful environment on the one place on campus that’s reserved for older students.
The Center’s website claims: “we know that non-traditional students face unique challenges and that returning or entering school at this stage in your life can seem daunting.”
Honestly, returning to school wasn’t that daunting for me. The only times that I’ve ever really not fit in here were at the one place where I was supposed to feel the most comfortable.
41 comments
The author got it right! I'm in my late 20's and wasn't comfortable there at all. It's like an exclusive club for a very specific group of people. I'm really suprised administration of the university allows this to continue.
But isn't the SMSU as a whole supposed to be a place for these laughs, lively debates, coffee and socializing? That's why we have a huge, two-story building where we can do those things. And resource centers, especially the ARC which is dedicated to older students reentering the education system, should be places for STUDENTS who need RESOURCES.
And gee, what might an older student, who probably has a slew of other responsibilities outside of this campus that come with a full time job, a family, running a household etc., want when dealing with the all challenges and pressures of college? MAYBE SOME QUIET TIME TO READ!
I'm 20 years old and if I want to get together with my friends to unwind, talk, laugh, discuss, debate etc. I sit out on the couches. Hell, I could probably even go to the WRC, PC, or CCC if I wanted to talk about some current events. Why would I gather with all my friends my age in the ARC to do all these things? After taking tests and silently writing notes all day long, sure I'd want to take the opportunity to be a little loud and use some foul language. But the first place I'd think of to do these things would not be the Adult Re-entry Center. That's just common sense to me. Don't get me wrong, I HIGHLY appreciate all the services and snacks and scantrons all these comments are talking about, and since I pay for them with my student fees, I'm very happy to partake in them, but I'm not an adult reentering the university, so I feel like my time is more appropriately spent elsewhere.
So yeah, maybe the the center SHOULD be more like a library, at least if that's what older students want, after all, it is supposed to be their center. Let's not be flippant and dismissive towards students who want to study, we all could use some more of that.
But one of the other posters was right, ganging up, 40 people strong on a writer who's only doing her job, isn't adding to the discussion, it's only showing immaturity on their part.
Do you really think that Ms. Martinez or any of the other older students who may be reading these comments are going to feel any more welcome or invited to the ARC when all these younger students are being hostile and name calling?You have the right to disagree with an opinion, that's great. But let's stop the personal attacks on the writer and get to the issue of why this article was written and what we can do to change that. And if it was all truly all a misunderstanding or miscommunication, as Judi Cruz intelligently wrote in her response, then let's find a way to be more fix that.