The university prides itself in its small, intimate community. We push the idea of Charger pride, of the tight-knit nature of our students and the accessibility of our resources. With this in mind, we are left to ask: why is it so difficult for undergraduate students to access Orange Campus?
The Pompea College of Business centers its hub of resources around our secondary campus, which makes sense given the dense population of MBA students that New Haven harbors. This is not to go without saying, however, that undergraduate students both within and beyond the College of Business could benefit with greater access to the Orange Campus.
We over in West Haven seem to lack a proper understanding of the resources available on this second campus. A proper gander at events listed on Charger Connection will only start to show students the amount of events hosted at the Orange Campus. While many are sponsored by and geared toward business students, the amount of opportunities to network, gain job search knowledge and learn about local organizations who set out to help students succeed is incredibly underappreciated by the main campus undergraduate population.
Turnouts at events located at Orange typically range between 15 and 20 students, when the resources provided here could be helping countless students be more successful in landing internships, applying for jobs upon graduation or even just networking with other students to collaborate and share knowledge and resources.
This is without considering the social divide created between the student population at the university. We currently risk creating an even larger gap between students of different ages and disciplines, which is an unfortunate disadvantage to find at a school of our size, where community is so widely valued.
The shuttle that runs between campuses is sporadic and is easily missed by students who are either in class or unfamiliar with the loop done between the two towns. The university-sponsored system for transportation is notoriously unreliable, even in simply getting students between buildings on the main campus. Why are we to trust it to shuttle us to an entirely different campus?
This is all without mentioning the way in which the Orange Campus is far better designed for productivity than the main campus. For students seeking to study or simply tackle a pile of assignments, the dull and yet elementary ambiance of main campus, with its headache-inducing colors and study spaces placed in the center of campus’ loudest buildings, it is impossible to feel accomplished at the end of the day. At Orange, the building has more turns and hidden nooks for studying, a more mature design with less loud colors on the walls and in general an atmosphere that promotes more intentional productivity.
