What is going on with the new Benson?
By Brendan Byrne
Reposted from: thesantaclara.blogspot.com
For those who haven't seen it, the new Benson design is incredibly snazzy. Among my friends, the consensus is that it looks good enough to get its number and call it up for dinner and a few drinks. The whole setup feels very open, the tables and chairs are less cattle-car and more artsy-swathes-- in general it feels pretty classy. For crying out loud, we don't get ice cream or frozen yogurt in the new Benson; no, we get gelato. It almost gives off a restaurant vibe, like somewhere you'd go for fun or maybe impress a person with your stylish but not overly expensive (at least until you walk up and read the prices) taste in food.
All of that pizzazz creates one large disconnect. This is a bit hard to say, so I'm going to need a little bit of a preface here. Santa Clara Culture, I love you. I love you in the way that makes me want to obnoxiously text you when I'm with other people, in the way that I want to bring soup to you when you're sick, and in the way that makes me schedule my classes so that we can get lunch together and hang out. I love your fascination with the most casual of clothing, your belief that Wednesday is a completely reasonable night to go out, and your edible silverware. I pretend to get upset when people say we're sickening to be around, but really I love the fact that they all wish they could be like us.
I love you for all of this, Santa Clara Culture, but I have to admit, you are not all that classy. When I step into the various dorms and off campus houses of Santa Clara students, it's clear that... well, that college students live in them. Drop by the bars and parties around campus and it's obvious that Santa Clara students get up to some crazy shenanigans. That's not a bad thing, mind you; we are, after all, college students. But stylish and sophisticated isn't really the first way I would describe you, dear SCC, and that's why the new Benson-with all its style and sophistication-is so problematic to me.
In some ways, it almost feels like a lie told to parents of prospective students: "Oh take a look here! This is our dining area, doesn't it look so incredibly fashionable and chic?" But I'm not so jaded as to think that it's just some kind of sucker punch for the prospective parents ("Wait, the stains in your room are vomit? Stains that have been there for three years?!") I think the university is honestly trying to give us something it thinks we want.
In a way, we do want it; we are all supposed to be joining the real world sooner or later, and part of doing that is maybe trying not to look like we were at the hut five nights out of seven last week. But we're not quite ready to do it yet, as evidenced by the many shenanigans we get up to, and it seems silly to try to pretend that's not who we are. In closing, I'd like to quote a dear friend of mine from last night: "Yeah, new Benson is nice and all, but really, being able to get mini corn dogs after stumbling away from a party was central to my Santa Clara experience.
Brendan Byrne is a TSC blogger.