Staff Editorial

The past two weekends have outlined a disparity between Duquesne students simply by looking out a window on campus.

Homecoming and Family Weekend was two weeks ago. Campus was flooded with people for a football game, an alumni fair and more. Last weekend was the exact opposite. It was a normal weekend at Duquesne — a tumble weed could roll down Academic Walk and wouldn’t look out of place.

While it’s true that many Duquesne students are commuters, there are still eight on-campus dorms which students live in, and those students are left with little to do.

The university should schedule weekend events other than sports games for students to readily attend. The campus is small enough so that everything is within walking distance, and there is no shortage of event spaces on campus. There are more than enough students living on-campus who would attend these events.

Movie nights, talent shows and trivia would all benefit the social lives and well-being of students and create a greater sense of community. The university should fund these events, similar to the “Adopt a Nite” program run by the Center for Student Involvement, where they fund organized events held in the NiteSpot on Thursdays from 9 to 10 p.m., across campus. 

Right now, students who live on-campus and their families are paying tens of thousands in tuition for what is essentially a bed near their classrooms. But students live here all seven days of the week, not just the five that they have class. If they want to enjoy themselves on the weekends, they have to leave campus where they’re likely to spend even more money because Duquesne doesn’t give them enough reasons to stay on The Bluff.

Duquesne encourages students to leave campus for recreation. Weekend shuttles go to the Strip District, Oakland and the South Side. These are fine places to go, but it should be by choice rather than out of necessity.

On-campus students who don’t have money to spend off-campus or a way to interact with their fellow students on their days off are more likely to spend their weekends locked up in their rooms — which is a lonely way to live and counter to what student life should be like.

Universities are supposed to foster student pride and build community; after all, part of students’ decisions when choosing schools is if they feel they can be a part of the community. Just because Duquesne’s campus is centrally located in the city does not mean it should be an exception.

There needs to be a greater effort from the university to give students who live on campus the opportunity to interact with the rest of the campus community.