Weighing pros and cons of UIS

Perhaps with more opportunities to explore downtown Springfield, students might begin to build a rapport with the city.

February 03, 2010
By John Tienken
Columnist

It’s preview day season again. The Admissions Department and the Student Ambassadors will give tours, answer questions and try to sell good ol’ UIS to potential students. Naturally, they will compare our campus to others, our social life to others, our opportunities to others, so on and so forth.

Most could compare UIS to the leviathan that is the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign or “THE U OF I” as some current students and alums might mistakenly call it.

Some of the major differences are of course size, amount of majors, student life, and location. UIS beats out UIUC in a terrific number of categories and aspects which give UIS its uniqueness. UIS is an idyllic small campus surrounded by a lake, the countryside, and good natured people. Being so small nearly everything is ten minutes or less away; in essence one has to try to really be late to anything.  Not to mention being late is noticed when professors know who you are!

I enjoy UIS, and many of those here do as well. But let’s make it better by incorporating certain aspects that UIUC students enjoy and UIS students do not.

UIS needs buses into Springfield on the weekends.  At UIUC, the university is virtually interwoven with the towns of Champaign and Urbana and they have a mass transit district that accommodates their university and students.

Although, UIS is located on the outskirts of Springfield and lacks a college town and any sort of businesses within walking distance. This is both a pro and con, but in a way UIS is estranged from Springfield life because of it. Student Life provides a shuttle to connect to the Springfield bus system, but the shuttle and SMTD only run Monday through Friday at night.

What about a day trip to Springfield for lunch with friends or late afternoon trip on Sunday to watch a movie and get dinner? Both are not possible without a car.  UIS should explore running a shuttle into the heart of Springfield bypassing SMTD in order to bring students into downtown Springfield on the weekends.

While this benefit for students has certainly been explored in the past, it needs to be again. UIS has students on the weekends, and perhaps with more opportunities to explore downtown Springfield, students might begin to build a repoire with Springfield.

Another added benefit is a student union. Most know what a student union is and that UIUC has Illini Union. However, UIS does not.  Imagine a student union or a thoroughly revamped student center where students, after getting off the USS (UIS Springfield Shuttle), can stop by and hang out before going back to their dorms.

For those who claim it is too much money in this economic climate, I contend this: Illini Union was built in 1938, the middle of the great depression. A place for students, and by students can and should be built the harshest of harsh economic times. Enough said.

A last distinction, with no solution easy or simple enough to address fully in a paragraph in a column, is pride. Pride in your school, Pride in where you go, Pride in those teams and activities which represent your school.  In a previous column, I addressed the fundamental lack of available spirit wear for UIS. Could you conceive of a situation at UIUC or an equal lack spirit at UIUC. The attendance at games here at UIS can be small and we are NCAA D II, however our peers need our support and our pride in their attempts and triumphs to represent UIS.

In a matchup between UIS and UIUC, the real intangible is pride. One need not do polls and research to see this, just plain experience.

Like a little brother who tries do everything the older brother does, UIS should follow UIUC’s lead on these and other aspects, but with a determination and a will to do them better.