Email to the Chancellor and Deans

Sent yesterday:

 

 

To Whom It May Concern:

 

I’m an SU alum, class of ’91. My fondest memories of university all center on my time with the SU Outing Club. I joined when I was a junior, became an officer when I was a senior. In the vigorous, boisterous, patient and loving environment of the club I found myself . . . and then I found someone else, another SUOCer who fifteen years later is my husband and father of my two kids. SUOC has quite literally set me on my path for life.

 

SUOC for us was more than just a way to learn about and experience outdoor recreation. The club’s very philosophy of self-reliance, perseverance and determination have guided me throughout my life. My friendships formed within the club have lasted over 15 years which is why I am completely aware of the current situation and the potential crisis facing SUOC today.

 

SUOC is not an organization that the university should attempt to control. To do so will kill the initiative of its student leaders, the vitality of SUOC’s strong alumni and eventually bring about the end of the club as we know it, thereby bringing an end to a 75 year old university tradition.  

 

SUOC is a club that exists for its members. It does not exist for the administration. It’s a club, not a class.

 

Already I am hearing of the stifling consequences of your administration’s insistent and unwanted participation. Sending in your rec program’s faculty to eavesdrop on the trip storytelling that takes place during every SUOC meeting (a tradition as old as SUOC itself) to try to find weaknesses in the club’s leadership is uncalled for and unnerving. That will put a stop to the storytelling pretty quickly which is the most fun part of the meeting so meetings will be less attended.

1. Meetings are where trips are set up, so less attendees at meetings means less trips go out.
2. New members fall in love with the club and bond with each other on these trips so less trips means less new members.
3. New members replace the graduates so less new members means a smaller and smaller club until it simply doesn’t exist anymore.

 

Hmm, how did that happen? Just look at Cornell and countless other outing clubs that simply don’t exist anymore as they have been completely swallowed by their school’s administrations.

 

What is SUOC to do in the face of such withering bureaucracy? I can’t control the outcome of your decisions. All I can say is that whatever SUOC decides they must do to keep the philosophy and traditions of the club alive I will support with my voice, my heart and my wallet.