By Michaela Papa, Columnist
Lately, it seems like the uniting factor binding Hofstra students is their overall disdain for Hofstra. Despite the constant proclamations by administrators for an effort to create school spirit, it simply does not exist here. The other day I saw a boy wearing an NYU sweatshirt around campus. The fact that he felt he could do this at Hofstra is reason enough for me to believe we have neither a campus identity nor soaring school pride. I joke…but really. The only pride we have is a bunch of bronze lions we’re not allowed to climb placed at various entrances to our University. Oh, the irony of it all.
With autumn quickly approaching, I watch the transition from booty shorts to booty shorts and UGG boots. Though, I suppose my general abhorrence and ignorance of Long Island fashion is neither here nor there. The point is, the weather is changing. With this, tan lines are fading, and along with it, spirits. Autumn brings in the brisk, crisp air that smells so inexplicably right. Crunchy leaves and flannel weather and the overwhelming desire to eat all things apple. I think fall is an ubiquitously loved season. It’s a welcomed transitional grace period.
People need a reason to be outside in the fall. Hofstra should provide this opportunity. We are all busy and overwhelmed and seeking for something to brighten our day. We have run out of days off, to the point of not even having the Wednesday before Thanksgiving to look forward to. Hofstra has the means, money and motives to provide a TRUE Harvest Festival for us. What would this be, you ask? To quote Leslie Knope, “Harvest Festival? More like Harvest Bestival!”
One thing I miss most about my bizarrely small, quaint hometown is not only the sense of unity, but the fall-time activities. Would the average Hofstra student not be infinitely happier if the leaves outside of Bits were not collected and left to sit in black bags on the quad, but rather gathered into a giant pile? Yes, I realize how juvenile this would be…but would it not brighten your day to jump into a colossal mound of freshly fallen leaves? Would it not make you love–or even like Hofstra just a little more?
The hay mazes, pumpkin carving and slice-and-bake cookies we fondly recall from our childhoods are now just memories. But those should not remain mere triggers of nostalgia. Hofstra’s Fall Festival, sans rappers and laser tag, would be something that would draw us together as a proud Pride Community. We could all look forward to the crunchy leaf piles and the wafting smell of kettle corn and fall air. We could heighten our sense of togetherness simply by being together. If a makeshift pumpkin patch in Calkins quad, a station for pumpkin carving, and an outdoor screening of “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and “Garfield’s Halloween Adventure” wouldn’t make us all happier and prouder, then I don’t know what would.