Babson can be pretty good about need-based financial aid.

succinctly put, no. i don’t intend to support this institution until it becomes worthy of my support. consider this pontification, these callous, dogmatic remarks my annual donation until then.

“On-line communication is a useful tool for promoting thoughts and marketing events, but absolutely nothing else produces results as effective as simply sitting down and talking about such concerns face to face. I truly hope you take advantage of all the Babson community has to offer and physically voice such concerns, become involved and leave your legacy on this campus for future students to enjoy and continue to improve upon throughout the tenure of the College.” – (a community member)

“Utilize the Free Press, student representatives in clubs & organizations and yes, SGA as well. I honestly feel if such actions were seriously taken by all students, you would not only see a shift in attitude, but a campus community more invovled to enhance each others’ experiences on a daily basis.” – (a community member)

it is unlikely that i will ever sit down. here’s a brief list of what i want: fire ocl, build a better bus system, make the dorms worthy of their boarding cost, sue sodexho, etc etc – this site pretty much sums up what i have to say. i would rather do it through this channel than any other because, quite frankly, i’m bitter. now you can say that my bitterness is my own fault, that can be quite true. but i believe that someone else is at least partly to blame for this ill feeling.

i have no more desire to go to sga. either way, sga can’t fire ocl or sue sodexho. just because babson throws money at sga doesn’t mean that the administration can escape responsibility for the results. with all due respect to the sga, and there are people working very hard in there, they are still just students (or unpaid administrators, depending on your perspective.) this is bigger than an sga issue because if it could have been done by students it would have been done years ago. this site is among last efforts to actually save babson (or warn others, depending on your inclination.) something isn’t right with this system and it needs to be fixed.

so thank you for your comments, but i wonder what community you really are from.

sincere regards,
fire barefoot

I certainly understand time commitments (both academic & personal) as well, but creating a forum to discuss ideas and build view points that positively and/or constructively shape the campus community may be as simple as reserving some space (if not your own room), brainstorming ideas/thoughts and the benefits and/or issues they may/may not cause, documenting such items and then discussing your outcomes with a member of the staff (either faculty or administration) to begin the process (my guess is that such conversations occur quite often, but with no particular focus and/or no documentation). Utilize the Free Press, student representatives in clubs & organizations and yes, SGA as well. I honestly feel if such actions were seriously taken by all students, you would not only see a shift in attitude, but a campus community more invovled to enhance each others’ experiences on a daily basis.

I look forward to reading more comments and ideas to come and hopefully, realizing the potenital benefits of implementing such change as well. You each have powerful viewpoints, words and thoughts – use them creativity and productively for the betterment of all.

There is a small movement of social responsibility, however, a lot of us are obsessed with the bottom line and so are our professors. It’s just not their fault. And yes, we should take responsibility; however, we participate in an environment where we are all obsessed with gaining capital.

Yes, I too want to change the world but do I have the means to do it right now? Not so much, that’s why I came here in the first place and well, now I’m a Senior being confronted with the big question: Do I truly have what it takes to do what I came for?

Babson is a highly competitive school inside and outside of the classroom. It’s the Apprentice without the cameras. Have you seen the new commercials? A love story buds in L.A…Everyone laughs but it reminds me of the same way that we gawk at a Babson relationship. It’s pretty impossible and includes moments where the couple is walking hand in hand and both talking on their respective cell phones.

If you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen. While I help to expose the cracks in the system, I still love the fact that Babson is just as gritty as the real world.

Classism is one of the biggest issues ANYWHERE. While I think we can all work to make Babson a better place, I hope that while we attack these issues we just don’t think inside our bubble, but that we extend our thoughts to the external world that is facing the same issues that we are struggling with at Babson.

All I have to say about “rich business” is that we really have little to talk about when it comes to class compared Babson in the 80′s, a time of decadence and greed; this was the BALLER day of Babson. Also, remember how Babson has changed from 1919.

There is a small movement of socially responsibility, however, a lot of us are obsessed with the bottom line and so are our professors. It’s just not their fault. And yes, we should take responsibility; however, we participate in an environment where we are all obsessed with gaining capital.

Yes, I too want to change the world but do I have the means to do it right now? Not so much, that’s why I came here in the first place and well, now I’m a Senior being confronted with the big question: Do I truly have what it takes to be an entrepreneur???

Babson is a highly competitive school inside and outside of the classroom. It’s the Apprentice without the cameras. Have you seen the new commercials? A love story buds in L.A…Everyone laughs but it reminds me of the same way that we gawk at a Babson relationship. It’s pretty impossible and includes moments where the couple is walking hand in hand and both talking on their own cell phones.

If you can’t handle the heat, get out of the kitchen. While I help to expose the cracks in the system, I still love the fact that Babson is just as gritty as the real world.

Classism is one of the biggest issues ANYWHERE. While I think we can all work to make Babson a better place, I hope that while we attack these issues we just don’t think inside our bubble, but that we extend our thoughts to the external world that is facing the same issues that we are struggling with at Babson.

God, my comments are making me feel old. But seriously, as a Senior in their last semester, not only do I want more underclassmen speaking up but I’m taking the time to teach the youngins. There’s an entire world out there and Babson students will have a huge influence.

First, many of us would love to go out of our way to make Babson better. Truth be told, Babson does not have any kind of proper channels set up to do such a thing, which is generally how this site came to be–if everyone had excellent ways to give feedback and improve the life here, they would certainly do it. Most of the admins are so business-minded that they forget entirely where their biggest revenue stream comes from: the students (both current and alumni).

I know you mentioned we see ourselves as customers, but we’re not the ones who implemented that mentality. There is complete separation between admins and the students. Like I already mentioned, there is not much of a great feedback stream, and a lot of students have never met most of the “important” admins in the first place, not to mention ever seen or heard of our strategic plan. Plus, the way students get treated here is as if we’re outsiders that are a necessary evil for the school. It’s sad, but it’s true. I think if it were up to the admins, they would not even have undergrad students here. We’re just they’re money bags that come onto campus.

So of course we’re going to see ourselves as customers. We come in thinking we’re going to be part of a great college experience and we come out feeling as though we paid our $170k for a degree (albeit a good one) and move on with our lives the same way as if we went to an Apple store and picked up an iPod. It’s not as though students come in thinking they’re customers, we’re bred that way. So the change needs to be in the culture that the admins cultivate here on campus.

Lastly, you mentioned SGA. Sadly, SGA is the ONLY student opinion the admins listen to. And the people that run are either unopposed or most people have no idea who they are anyway, so their ideas are completely unrepresentative of the general student views on campus. Many of the reps run so they can put it on their resumes. You’re right in saying more people should be active with the government, but considering how much time is spent on classes and extracurriculars here, it’s sometimes a stretch to ask students to do that. I’m not saying it’s the admins fault for it, but most people don’t have extra time to throw into SGA after they have classes, homework, sports, some run their own businesses, etc. It’s simply more evidence that more outlets for feedback should be created to solve the issue.

What you may not know is that colleges hold spaces for what are called “full pay” students. These are the rich few that can pay the full tuition with no loans, grants, scholarships, etc. In theory they help fund the poorer kids. But it does make one question how many better and smarter students don’t get in because a dumber full pay individual got in on his $$$.

Babson goes all nuts over racial and sexual diversity issues, but in fine corporate capitalist structure, they maintain a wall of privilege around the chosen godlike few that run this place.