Four years ago, I came to DePauw thinking my time here was going to be challenging and fun. The students I saw when I visited as a high schooler were tired but happy, and spoke highly of the campus life and their professors.
Unfortunately, DePauw does not live up to its image. As a senior, I would not tell a prospective student to come to DePauw.
It seems all of the happiness has been taken from the students, professors, and staff. DePauw is exhausted. If you need mental health services or medical treatment, you are better off going to a local hospital or talking to a professor. I have chosen to go to the Putnam County Hospital instead of waiting a week to get in to see someone here.
My parents believed that the Hubbard Center could give me all the help I need. The truth: the Hubbard Center has never helped me, personally. I have had more help from professors and advisors. Students who aren’t in accounting, economics, or similar disciplines are often left behind - job and internship fairs are useless for anyone who is seeking a different profession. These events are heavily advertised to seniors, but they end up being a large waste of time.
Marginalized students are only heard in the moments when they make noise. The DePauw administration is content on letting them linger in the background. When the bias incidents happened last year and the administration asked the Association for African American Students for their suggestions, I along with many others assumed that the dialogue would continue. But alas, I don't think the list given has been fulfilled and the dialogue has stopped.
The university has exhausted its students, degraded our professors and staff, and used us as marketing pawns.
While I know this rant provides no answers, I shouldn’t have to be the one to find the solutions. Nor should marginalized students have to fix the injustices that they face from the University. DePauw enticed us all here with what was supposed to be a great college experience. If my parents had realized that this was what their tuition money was for, I doubt I would be here. In order to follow through on their claims, DePauw needs to start fixing what they broke in the last four years.