The inevitability of change is a fact of life that no one can escape. Those of you who, like me, are returning to Seton Hill University (SHU) this fall semester will notice drastic changes occurring on our intimate little campus, probably more changes than we usually encounter on our reappearance from a much-needed summer vacation.
Newcomers to SHU will more likely not identify these changes as such, but instead associate them with things that simply are Seton Hill.
Lorin Schumacher
Columnist
The inevitability of change is a fact of life that no one can escape. Those of you who, like me, are returning to Seton Hill University (SHU) this fall semester will notice drastic changes occurring on our intimate little campus, probably more changes than we usually encounter on our reappearance from a much-needed summer vacation.
Newcomers to SHU will more likely not identify these changes as such, but instead associate them with things that simply are Seton Hill.
But, you will also very likely come across many discussions amongst us returners as we all take a turn playing the critic and passing judgment upon these changes.
I ask you to forgive us, as the changes will certainly cause heated debates, enraged rants, and extreme frustration as we attempt to cope with the fact that things on this little hill are not the same as they were three years ago when we seniors first matriculated, or even the same as one and two years ago when the classes of 2010 and 2011 joined us at SHU.
I hope that as we analyze and process these changes, we are able to give them all the fair chance at a “two-thumbs up” rating, rather than writing off all change as a threat to the comfort and familiarity of the way things were.
In honor of my final year at SHU, I have decided to dedicate this column to such changes surrounding the university – changes in its physical appearance, in its policies, academics, technology, faculty and staff, and its students.
As we celebrate the 90th anniversary of this academic institution, we are marked by a number of large changes that have the great potential to improve this place of learning, but also include great risks for changing it to a place we will no longer recognize as fitting the vision our beloved founders, Mother Aloysia Lowe and the Sisters of Charity, had for us nearly a century ago.
The success of the changes at SHU – changes such as the switch from Campus Connect and JWeb to Griffin Gate, the addition of the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine (LECOM) to our campus, and the need for the Office of Residence Life to accommodate the overflow of residents at the Marriott hotel behind Wal-Mart – will depend greatly on the attitudes of current students, faculty, staff, and alumni.
Yes, these changes will be difficult to get used to. Yes, some of them may cause many struggles and problems as any unknown territory does.
But if we truly believe in what we stand for as members of the Seton Hill community we will remember “Hazard Yet Forward” and we will persevere.
So if you find yourself disheartened by the changes that are occurring at SHU (like I have been, I admit, on many occasions) ask yourself why.
Is it simply because they are the inevitable changes that disrupt your personal comfort zone and will take a little adjusting to get used to them? If so, that’s fine.
We all must learn to deal with change and it can be very hard to do. No one is asking you not to feel affected by the changes in a negative way.
But, for the sake of making Seton Hill the best it can be, try to look at the changes through a different lens. Give change a chance.
Attempt to see all the positives as well as the negatives to each situation. And once you separate the good from the bad, decide what YOU can do to change the bad, and the good better. You can make a difference: in yourself, in your home, in this school, and in the world. Otherwise, what are we all doing here?
You have the power to affect change just as much as change affects you. Don’t allow the changes around SHU make you feel incapable of affecting those very changes for the betterment of our home here on the Hill.