There is a lot to like about The University of Alabama in the fall.
The campus surges with electricity and pulses to the rhythm of our stadium shakers as every week and weekend is scripted by the rise and fall of the Crimson Tide. Sun-drenched autumn afternoons on the Quad are interrupted only by the tailgate tents. Saturday is a holy day of obligation, on Sunday we recover, and then we get ready to repeat it.
Indeed, when the leaves change and the thousands of outsiders descend, our campus feels like the epicenter of this state – a postcard setting of the perfect college experience from September to November. There’s really nowhere else I’d rather be.
January starts off significantly colder. With greyer, rainier days and no ready-made weekly rituals to schedule life around, the familiar drumbeat of the fall lulls to a more relaxed pace. Spring seems like a logical time to retreat into the cozy comfort zone which sprawls roughly from Publix to the Rec Center.
Without a doubt, one could eat and exercise, get sick and find treatment, sin and find God and do just about everything else in-between without ever setting foot off University grounds. And with on-campus services and activities multiplying daily to meet swelling enrollment, there seems to be less and less reason to venture out at all from the safe confines that hug University Boulevard and Campus Drive.
Let’s fight against that mentality this semester.
With all the electricity of fall left behind for a while in the Superdome, spring is truly the perfect time to engage in new and exciting ways with the city of Tuscaloosa – to explore its people, its culture and its character.
The University of Alabama is the city’s central economic engine, employer and cultural hub. But we’d do well to remember that there is much more to Tuscaloosa than the University: In many important ways, we live in a town with a college – not simply a “college town.”
As a large constituency within this multi-layered community, it is our civic duty as students and citizens to respect local issues and embed ourselves in community life responsibly. That relationship became strained last semester as greek organizations came under fire for allegations of voter fraud in local elections. With community-polarizing issues like that (and more and more disoriented out-of-state students arriving in town every year) it is more critical than ever that the University and its students work hard to foster close ties and a healthy relationship with the city.
Preserving these community dynamics is important for all of us because embracing our city’s local flavor can enrich the academic experience in ways which cannot be fully replicated on campus, nor fully appreciated outside its organic setting. We need to develop an integrated community experience, not just a sterile campus life.
I didn’t really know what to expect when I first arrived here from New England, but this city has grown on me in ways which I couldn’t have anticipated. I see it now as my adopted home, and after three years I am still consistently surprised and excited by its energy. I’m convinced that the more honest effort we put into engaging with the city and its people, the more fun and interesting place we all will have to call home.
So this spring, attend Mayor Walt Maddox’s town hall meetings and make your voice heard; explore the beautiful lakes and parks which surround us; support the local small businesses downtown on “First Fridays;” check out some great restaurants that don’t accept Dining Dollars; volunteer for a local non-profit; go for a bike ride or a run on the (literal) other side of the tracks in historic West Tuscaloosa.
Just go be a tourist in your own city – you might be surprised by everything it has to offer.
We already know how proud the city of Tuscaloosa is to be the home of this great university. And if you give this city and its wonderful residents a real chance this spring, I promise you will find plenty of reasons to be proud of Tuscaloosa.
Henry Downes is a junior majoring in economics and political science. His column runs biweekly on Tuesdays.
