For so long I have scorned CSUN for a multitude of problems I have encountered here. Only recently have I come to a realization that half of these dilemmas are shared by many students. But not to stifle CSUN, among its disadvantages, this university has several advantages.
After enrolling at CSUN as a freshman and experiencing most of what CSUN has to offer its students, I occasionally ask myself, “What will I miss about CSUN?”
I can think of five different things that I will long for after leaving CSUN and five things that, well let’s just say, I will gleefully forget. (This more than several of friends could say about CSUN.)
“Let’s stay
together”
1. Oh, why can’t it be a CSUN morning everywhere and every day? Morning breezes, the smell of jasmine, birds chirping, foggy skies and a steamy, hot cup of coffee given to me by Dottie at The Edge. That’s a typical CSUN morning.
2. Oviatt Library book sales. Where else can some starving students buy a New England travel guide for 50 cents? If that’s not a deal, find me a better one. Most of the books sitting on my shelves are from the Oviatt’s book sales.
3. Peaceful protests. It has been more than three years since CSUN has seen walkouts and war protests in which students and professors alike laid together on the Oviatt Library lawn. M.E.C.h.A. recently organized a demonstration opposing severe immigration reforms to begin at CSUN. Marchers walked through campus. For a brief moment, student apathy was dead and CSUN was alive.
4. Friendly faces. Besides the occasional high-end frou frou snob that gives a glance that says a million different things, most of the students, faculty and staff do what they need to do to get out of CSUN in one piece with smiles. The bureaucracy at CSUN is an added stress to the demands of commute and working at full-time jobs, so coming to school everyday with some sense of composure is a well-regarded and respectable trait. CSUN’s maintenance crew and food services employees above all will be greatly missed. These individuals are the most well-humored and hard-working people at CSUN.
5. … And finally, my beloved pride and joy, the Daily Sundial. This wonderful paper is the source of many of my woes and joys. I love the Sundial as if it were my own child. The people who work at the Sundial, from publisher, business manager and production manager to former and current editors and reporters, have given me the most valuable life lesson: “Learn how to be passionate, love, work hard and live good.”
“Just another brick in the wall”
1. Parking. This is one of the biggest complaints CSUN students have about CSUN. If a student arrives one minute after 8 a.m., he or she will have to drive around CSUN parking lots to get a decent spot. Oh, the horror. Thank you CSUN for allowing me to graduate, so that I would not have to deal with the agony of finding an elusive parking space.
2. A fight to the death to register for classes. No longer will I have to deal with trying to add a class when 15 other students are also trying to add. No longer will I have to cross my fingers before opening a registration packet hoping to get an early registration date and time.
3. Parking police and tow trucks. Every time I see a car getting towed on Nordhoff Street, my heart aches for the person who will get out of their class later than they had anticipated only to discover their car is bye-bye. I loathe witnessing parking police walk around CSUN parking lots trying to bust students who do not have a valid parking pass.
4. Where’s the health nut food? CSUN has pretend healthy food, such as Jamba Juice, salads loaded with dressing and sandwiches filled with gallons of mayo. I have spent far too much money buying small packages of veggies and fruit that often cost more than a pasta with marinara sauce.
5. Sob. Sob. The treacherous commute. A two hour ride on the 14 freeway to the 5 freeway to the 405 freeway is sufficient a reason to make anyone want to quit school and join a cult. Enough said.
Despite these annoying things about CSUN, the most valued cliche to describe CSUN is “Hallelujah for its diversity.” The most wonderful thing about this campus is its diversity.
So, who knows where this new CSUN degree will take me? One aspect, however, about CSUN no other university has offered me is an adios, goodbye, adieu and sayonara – in twenty different languages.
