The campus has been abuzz lately with the changes proposed by Cal State Long Beach President F. King Alexander’s attempt to take away the commuter school label associated with our university. The changes that have been happening recently include opening two new coffeehouses in the residence halls, a new Starbucks in the library, eateries remaining open later and the push to build the Recreation and Wellness Center in Lot 11.
All these changes are nice, and some of them – in particular the coffeehouses – have increased student interaction at night, but they come at a price. In addition to the cost of the construction, many students lose out on the peace and quiet of sprawling out on the lawn in Upper Campus or sitting in the University Library.
In the name of creating a sense of community and promoting the “keep it on campus” attitude, I want to suggest a less costly and noisy alternative.
Alexander, if you want to increase attachment to the school (this includes current students and the alumni our campus calls for donations) please find us a rival.
Find us another college that we can band together to dislike. Find us that university that will give us a run for our money and that we rejoice in crushing at sports events, academic competitions, etc. I know it may seem petty, but it works.
For example, two area schools, USC and UCLA, regard each other as rivals. Many people watch each year when the “Crosstown Showdown” comes around. Feelings about which team should win the game (and the Victory Bell) each year are intense. I once met a couple where the wife graduated from USC and the husband graduated from UCLA. Every year, the spouse whose alma mater wins the football game gets to display his or her diploma above the other’s. Weird, I know, but that’s commitment.
Another famous one is the ongoing battle between Stanford and UC Berkeley. These two schools take the rivalry to a whole new level. Not only do the teams go at it every year for pride and the Stanford Axe, they even treat each other’s colors with disdain. I have a friend in the band at Cal who was warned before moving to Berkeley that she had to avoid wearing any clothing with red on it during rehearsals. Apparently, bad things happen to those who wear Cardinal Red while in the Bear band.
Seeing the way these schools go at it makes me feel like I’m missing out on part of the college experience. Students here wear sweatshirts from all sorts of different colleges, and some of the games I’ve been to have had a pitiful turn out. A lot of people have no real pride in being a 49er, and it makes me kind of sad.
Us getting a rival would help change things for the better. We currently have a lot of small rivals in specific sports (e.g. for volleyball, we have Santa Barbara, men’s basketball has CSU Fullerton, football has CSU Fullerton thanks to the fact that neither university has a team), but that just doesn’t cut it.
The way it is, it’s really hard to keep track of what the “big game” is for each sport. At least if we had a rival university, we would have one showdown for each sport that would help draw a crowd.
For those who want to argue that the Beach Pride Center has established a rivalry with UC Irvine, I say that’s bull. It’s not highly publicized, and a rivalry is no good if most people don’t know it exists.
As such, I propose that we choose someone close to take an intense, all consuming dislike to, maybe UC Irvine or CS Fullerton. I don’t know exactly how to get this ball rolling, but I think it’s a necessary step. For the good of the school Alexander, make it happen.
Allison Baldwin is a sophomore journalism major and the city editor for the Daily Forty-Niner.
