UMass needs to beef up its focus on campus community this year. Students who attend UMB are all too often out of the social loop, even though a student organization exists for many interests and issues right here at UMB. There are a couple of major factors contributing to the lack of community at UMB. For starters, freshmen may not know how to acclimate to their new setting. Almost sixty percent of undergraduates have freshmen standing. Many of these students have found themselves at the end of their first year feeling alienated, with little connection to the school. The feeling is often one shared by upper classmen, who have never found their niche on campus.

Many others complain there’s nothing to do, which is simply not true, but this brings us to another factor in our campus community quandary: student organizations. Student group may suffer from a lack of experienced organizers, but they still need to get focused and figure out how to better attract the students who are looking for something to do but don’t know what’s available. They need to be more creative at reaching out to students, in ways such as postering, tabling, or placing ads in this paper.

Students also need to make a more concerted effort to get to know the people on their campus; it’s almost as simple as taking a walk up to the fourth floor of Wheatley, where many clubs have their offices. But perhaps the easiest thing to do right now would be to attend the Fest-of-Us activities on September 17, where many of the groups will be running different events. A number of people are leaning on the new student center to fix the problem, but the reality is building a community is a community effort; we must all work together to make the school a friendlier place to be. There are clubs at this school that you would want to join. There are people at this school that would like to get involved with your organization. Let’s get to know each other.