Leave me alone week

I heard a crazy idea from another editor at this publication.

He suggested a week where students can walk through the Student Union without being accosted by party fliers, invitations to rush, free Frisbees and undergraduates with political agendas. A week without cultural celebrations, obnoxiously loud music and giant arches made out of balloons.

He said we could call it, "Leave Me the Hell Alone Week."

It sounds great and everything, walking through a peaceful Union, but I found a couple of problems with the idea. The beginning of the semester means the beginning of rush for fraternities and sororities. This time of year, clubs are still seeking members and students actually have time to party. Not to mention the fact that ethnicity and culture take a vacation for no one.

But it's more than that.

Those annoying fliers and numerous cultural celebrations are a testament to how much the student body cares. We care about partying, academics, ethnic origin - we care about pretty much everything, including sports teams.

At a Division I school, athletics are a big deal no matter how untalented the teams are. It's just the nature of the beast.

On a campus this size, there's enough funding to go around for just about any kind of club or organization that wants to exist. And before you know it, you've got students who support those athletic teams and clubs. It's the groupies that make it a big deal.

Take a Division III school like Fredonia. My brother explains that sports teams are all but ignored, and the clubs that exist are poorly funded and apathetic. At the end of the day, students go to the only bar in town and then go to bed.

My guess is that they have a peaceful Student Union.

Fredonia doesn't enjoy financial support like we do because of the size of its student body. Is it worth it? We all enjoy the benefits of a large university and the financial benefits it brings, but that opens the doors for clubs that really need your membership, time, money and attention to approach you at every campus opportunity.

I think it's more than worth it. It's bothersome on occasion to have to hold your ears on the way from the Union theater to Putnam's, but that says a lot about student apathy: it's not as prevalent as people think.

Like I said, students care. Come election time for the SA executive board, everyone will complain how few students turn out to vote. But that apathy is just of the political vein. Maybe no one except Mazin Kased's buddies will crawl out of the woodwork to vote Viqar Hussain into office, but it's everything else that we care about. The parties, the clubs, the sports teams - everything.

It says a lot about the diversity of our students, too. During freshman orientation, incoming students learn that UB's undergraduates come from all over the world. My partner as an orientation aide was from Malaysia.

But we enjoy a diversity of more than ethnicity. Religion, sense of humor, political preference, fashion style, fraternity and club involvement, Facebook or non-Facebook - I could go on forever.

And as an undergraduate, you see it every day, handing you a quarter-sheet at the double doors to the Student Union. Goes to show you that there's a lot to care about.

Chances are, if you're reading this, you came to a Division I campus with the understanding that there are more undergraduates than anyone can count; a D-I university with a club for everything and a student body that wants to be involved.

So in the end, I see why someone might want just one week all to himself. That's a lot of clubs to dodge if you're not interested in getting more involved. But I suggest that if you can't beat them, join them.

Take a flier.