By Jake Pellegrino
Staff Writer
Surf Club, Guitar Club, Filmmaker’s Club. These are all clubs that upon my acceptance to Hofstra I was excited to join. Unfortunately, I was dismayed to learn that I would likely not be able to.
Why? Because their meetings are held in the evening.
While this may be fine for resident students – as all they need to do is walk a few feet from their residence hall – it makes it next to impossible for commuters.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, I am done with class around 2 p.m. In order to attend these meetings, it would mean either waiting around campus for about five hours, or going home and returning to campus later in the evening. This is very time consuming, time which I could be using to get other things done.
Commuters need our school days to be self-contained. Some commuters depend on buses, trains and other forms of public transportation to get to campus. To return once again in the evening requires more time, not to mention the extra bus or train fare necessary for an additional trip.
Many commuters also hold part-time jobs in the evening hours, which prevent us from attending evening events. Activities taking place in the evening need to be changed because it is not giving commuters the college experience they deserve. To avoid this waiting game, we usually just go to class and go home, missing out on the chance to make connections with other students.
Half of Hofstra’s student population is made up of commuters, but Hofstra doesn’t seem to be catering to them. When I was first considering Hofstra they advertised themselves as “commuter friendly.” But I don’t understand how they can make that claim when commuters have to go through all these hassles just to be involved on campus.
However, it doesn’t need to be like this. Common Hour is set aside in the middle of the day every Wednesday. It baffles me why Hofstra does not seem to be using it for this purpose.
Instead, many students (myself included) just find themselves hanging around the Student Center or Bits ‘n’ Bytes during Common Hour wondering what to do next, using the time to do menial tasks such as eating lunch or catching up on homework.
If more events and club meetings were held during Common Hour, it would allow us to have a self-contained day. We could go to class in the morning, attend a club meeting during Common Hour, go to work and then do homework or study in the evening.
At its current state, I would say that Common Hour is a massive waste of time. If there isn’t anything interesting to attend during that time, why even have it?
Furthermore, I am the type of student that likes to take classes back-to-back and get done early.
By having Common Hour use up a block of time, it prevents me from doing this and forces me to bump back my schedule an hour and a half later. Perhaps one solution would be to offer classes at that time for those students who wish to take them.
I am not arguing against Common Hour. In fact, I am all for it; but it needs to be changed. Take note, Hofstra clubs and activities: Consider moving your evening meetings to Common Hour. Not just for the commuters but for the entire Hofstra community. Or, another alternative, more guest speakers and lecturers could be scheduled during this time.
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