Rerun: On New Students

Some time back, I tried my hand at a more generic blog whose topic was the things that made me grumpy.  It was fun, but life took over and I had to let it go into hiatus.  However, I still like some of my old posts, so I think I will periodically resurrect one that seems to still be appropriate.  Here's the first, written shortly after the annual fall arrival of the undergraduate students, who are mostly missing during the summer months.  There is always a period of adjustment by all involved, perhaps particularly in the case of those who are setting foot on campus for the first time, and display remarkable cluelessness about the mayhem they are causing with their actions.

Every fall brings thousands of new and returning students to our formerly quiet campus. Of course, that's a good thing. One of our primary purposes is the education of said students. On the other hand, the level of douchebaggery that ensues in those first few weeks of the semester never fails to floor me. Here I will focus on one particular aspect, sidewalk and hallway behavior.

How many times have I been walking across campus on the right hand side of a 10-foot wide sidewalk, and had a group of oncoming students 4 abreast approach me, leaving no room for pedestrians moving in the opposite direction? I am not a small person, so if I notice this unfolding, I look the one closest to me in the eye and lower my shoulder to convey a clear message: move or you will land on your ass. Usually they move, though I doubt the lesson has been internalized. Therefore, here it is, in short form: sidewalks are not one-way thoroughfares.

Then there is the corridor gaggle. Oftentimes between classes, I (and many hundreds of others) will be walking through a building, only to encounter a huge clot of students trying to move in both directions. As we progress through the logjam, its origins become clear: a group of clueless students parked in the middle of the crowd, talking while they make everyone go around them. I occasionally provide them with some input about their spectacularly considerate behavior, with said comments typically met with eye-rolling indicating what a buzzkill I am. Well, so what? Maybe I wanted to kill your buzz. Anyway, in short: move to a table or the quad if you want to hold a conversation.

Well, that's my vent of the week. Perhaps in the future I will comment on the tools from engineering who live next door, or the pathetic freshmen who ride the elevator up one floor to get to their lab sections. In the meantime, stay cranky.