Project Orange

"Well, if the students want an Outfly, I guess it better be Outfly!" -President Hamm

Hey everyone! SURPRISE! It's OUTFLY!!!!!

It's a little known fact that Wartburg used to have TWO Outflys... One in the fall and one in the winter... And the student body used to have to march to the president's house and demand that it be declared Outfly. (The president's house used to be closer. On campus in fact.) And then there would be no classes.

Student Senate decided to try and organize the Wartburg student body to bring back this tradition....... For the past week student senate has been gathering student signatures in support of a Winter Term Outfly. They wanted 1,000 signatures. They got 1,300. Which is ALMOST the entire student body.

The intent of this Outfly (because it is not endorsed--or known--to the Faculty... Well, until today obviously) is to show the college administration that the student body are not happy with not having a voice. Issues that many of us feel are important are being ignored. Things like:

- Tuition Inflation (Tuition was about $28,000 when I was a freshman. Next year it's over $35,000.)
- Campus Sustainability and Environmental Initiatives (We... desperately need a better way to recycle on campus...)
- Res-Hall Improvements (There's asbestos in the Complex.)
- ITS and Technology Funding (I work for ITS and we do NOT have enough funding for what the campus wants us to do.)
- Faculty Feedback (SRI Review Procedures) (The comments written by students are read by teachers.... sometimes. But not administration. Also a poor review by a student about a teacher on an SRI can blacklist the student's future standing with that teacher, even though they are supposed to be anonymous.)
- Accessibility & Special Needs Accommodation (Not all the doors are handicap-accessible, and a lot of have have been broken this year.)
- Faculty-Administration Communication and Support. (Wartburg just instituted a salary-freeze until they know how many students are coming in the fall. You can't tell me all of the faculty are happy about this.)
- International Student Support (Money is promised... But really... Who CAN afford to go here??????)
- The "W" Locker Room Access (I'm paying $500 a semester FOR the W specifically, and I can't used the member locker rooms????? WTF! Plus, Wartburg still charges you the $500 per semester even if you study abroad or go to Wartburg West in Denver, Co.)

So it's "Outfly for a Cause" but it's still Outfly! We all got up at 5:30 am went to Clinton Field, where we met up with the other 1,000+ students. There were speeches. Then we ALL marched to Greenwood where we knocked on President Hamm's door for about 15 minutes. He came out in his pajamas, we sang the Wartburg Loyalty Song, and he declared it Outfly! It was awesome!

The only lame part is that the Faculty aren't obliged to adhere to it, so if your professor doesn't declare it Outfly, you have to responsibly decide if you will skip class or not. I have one class today, and I have a test. And the Professor says if you skip, you can't make up the test. Whatever. I'll go in and get the test over with. And then I have a flute lesson at 9. And then I'm practicing with my accompanist at 11:30.

Outfly doesn't really change *my* day, but hey. It's still Outfly!