By The Record

As Heritage Day approached, what did you hear students saying?

Did you hear about plans to attend speakers and lunch table discussions?

Or did you hear plans to go out Tuesday night? Plans to stay in to do laundry or do homework all day Wednesday?

Heritage Day was established last year to celebrate the history the CSB/SJU communities and their Benedictine and Catholic identities. Many students here take pride in their school and its heritage, and rightfully so.

Yet with the exception of students whose professors require their participation, or those few who seem to express genuine interest, the celebration has become synonymous with a day off.

Students should not be faulted. Many of us, if not most, understand the significance of the day. But we are given nary a compelling reason to pass up an extra day to catch up on sleep or homework.

It is frustrating, knowing the role of heritage in our lives, that we have little reason to give a potentially landmark celebration any creedence.

Outside speakers are brought into lecture us on the significance of our own institutions’ history.

They are brought in because they are a big name and they’ve written a book, not necessarily because they can speak to the significance of CSB/SJU heritage. On this day meant to emphasize community, we feel disconnected from the guests of honor.

But that’s not all. Advertising is scarce. We simply aren’t told what Heritage Day is. And there is little visible energy or enthusiasm on the part of the administration.

We’re virtually left to speculate. Many are given the impression that Heritage Day is meant as compensation for the fact that classes were held on Labor Day, a day our institutions ought to be honoring in the first place. Rumors have circulated that a Monday holiday was avoided to keep students from leaving campus on the weekend — hence the mid-week Heritage Day. The notion that Labor Day would be ignored and a quasi-holiday invented in its place, as compensation, is abhorrent, but absent an explanation from the administration, students are left in the dark. Worse, their energy is far from focused on celebrating their heritage.

What will it take for students to have a vested interest in Heritage Day? The Catholic and Benedictine tradition is rich and exciting. Heritage Day should have been huge.

Is it time for students to speak up? Is it time for the administration to change their act? Either way, we’re on different pages. And it’s too bad. Because beyond the apathy, after the speculation and the cynicism, we’re missing an opportunity to come together as a community.

And whatever the reason for gathering, that’s what matters most.

Filed under: Editorial, Opinion by Justin Roth