To the DePauw Faculty, Staff and Student Body,
My name’s Issac. I’m the guy who plays guitar every Wednesday night at the Duck.
When my father passed away at the end of 2014, I decided to try and come back to finish the degree I started in 2004. Crazy, huh? I had been in contact with my advisor since 2007 and, with the help of the Registrar’s office, I was soon scheduled to start my senior year with the rest of the class of 2016 as a 30-year-old. I packed a week's worth of clothes, my laptop, a guitar and some towels, and I booked it to Indiana. Once in Greencastle, it felt necessary to destroy a garlic cheeseburger as a kind of christening for my last year. #RanchCup.
Things got interesting quickly. Many of you reading this will never be able to understand the struggle I went through in the first few weeks. It isn’t because I grew up in the poorest region in the U.S., or because of the color of my skin; personally, those things were irrelevant. The struggle gets real when faculty and students say offensive things, or look at you like you’re out of place in Asbury Hall because you look like a dude looking for the Dad’s Weekend celebration. #Microaggressions.
It’s weird that DePauw still suffers from issues of privilege and from obliviousness to the outside world, especially when events like the DePauw Dialogue make it so easy for everyone to interact. Age, though, is something people rarely talk about on this campus. As DePauw tries to provide better resources for the diverse community it fosters, I hope this piece gives insight to the community so it can learn to accept everyone in the same way they would out in the real world, even if it chooses to keep oversized sweaters, sleeveless tanks and awful pastel-colored shorts in style forever. #UncommonSuccess.
I can honestly say that the only thing that bridged the age gap between me and the rest of the seniors at DePauw was music. Wednesday nights literally started as me playing tunes to Greg and the great staff at the Duck. Then before I knew it, "Matty and the Boys," senior Thetas, students from my classes, professors, Greencastle locals, alumni, trustees and even administration were coming out to enjoy live music whenever I played, it felt great...it feels great. #WellsOnWells.
DePauw is missing the power of music. If you want to see the most diverse part of campus, listen to the soundtracks that make Friday nights happen at your local fraternity, or find out a white rapper from Indy is killing it on the road in between classes, or even notice how enjoying an acoustic cover of “Hotline Bling” can get the people goin'. #ItsProvocative.
If you’re willing to look for it, there’s all sorts of diversity on this campus. Let’s celebrate it. Let’s sing along to the tunes we never knew could bring us together. I promise you that it works on Wednesday nights. Don’t believe me? You’ve got three weeks to find out for yourself. Come see how music has helped me realize that I was meant to be in the class of 2016. #ThankYou.
-Loya is a sociology major from McAllen, Texas.