Commodification of school spirit
By Stavros Conom
If there is one image about Santa Clara that will stick with me through the rest of my years, it won't be the mission, the palm trees, or the rose garden. Instead, my mind will retain visions of masses of faceless people wearing red and white Santa Clara sweatshirts.
Think about it. Can you go a whole day on campus without seeing one of those pieces of collegiate merchandise? Half a day? Chances are you cant even get through a class without seeing at least a few of them.
Take a quick stroll through the upper level of the bookstore and you'll see what I mean. Key chains, athletic wear, and hats amongst other things populate the list of purchasable Santa Clara paraphernalia.
Don't get me wrong: I don't find any of that problematic, really. In fact, nothing brings a smile to my face faster knowing that I can personally identify with that lone Santa Clara sweatshirt standing out in the middle of a crowd at the mall. You could say that seeing something like that instills in me a sense of school spirit.
But consider this: It's Saturday night at Leavey Center, and the latest Bronco basketball game is in progress.
Except the bleachers are mostly empty. You might have noticed that little problem of sports attendance mentioned in The Santa Clara's own sports section.
What kind of an example of school spirit is that? The answer is that it's not, and it seems to be a common sentiment among students. "I've bought six sweatshirts, a car sticker, a license plate frame, a hat, and other stuff since I've been a student at Santa Clara," said Raechelle Velarde, a junior English major. "But I've never been to any athletic events, even though I'd get in for free since I'm a Ruff Rider. But I'm busy, and people just don't talk about them, really."
A seemingly typical reaction of a Santa Clara student. Involved monetarily and visually but not emotionally or spiritually -- a trend that we should be above, especially when it comes to what many would consider the highlight of our collective youths.
"The apparel bought and worn from the bookstore has an effect on what kind of school spirit is presented at SCU," said Paige Wilson, an undeclared sophomore on Santa Clara's women's golf team. "Besides saying just 'Santa Clara University' on them, they should say something fun that will unite the students."
Maybe our enthusiasm for the center of our education is just manifesting itself in a way that is to be expected--a kind of commodification of school spirit. At a university that lacks a football team, a cheerleading squad barely anyone knows about, and a Greek system that does not retain the support of the administration, maybe only "wearing" Santa Clara works better for us. It's a more passive approach to school spirit for a student body that is often inundated with schoolwork and the incessant preparations that comes with being a student.
As a result, we are factionalized, not unified.
The Multicultural Center has their group, the soccer players have theirs, the yearbook crew has theirs -- the list goes on. Cliques dominate in a place where we should be united as a whole. For many schools, what gets this job done are sports fan communities and other kinds of social events, but here it looks like these things just don't cut it.
The bottom line is that we need to get out there- do more than just show off our Santa Clara wardrobes and bumper stickers. Take some real pride in being a Bronco. Drop by the MCC, join a club or two, or even start your own and see what happens. Take advantage of some school sponsored activities. Sit in on a session of the senate and use your status as a Santa Clara student to get involved in the community. You can be sure that they will appreciate all the support.
Because if 20 years down the line all you have left of your experience at Santa Clara is a handful of ratted out sweatshirts and an alumni license plate frame, you'll be wishing you had been involved and had that school spirit "back in the day" to supplement your aged merchandise.
* Stavros Conom can be reached at sconom@scu.edu.