If timing were an exam, Pacific University would get an “F.”
On Sept. 15, Pacific became a cluster of chaos. Throughout the day, six different events crowded into downtown Forest Grove and across Pacific’s campus.
The events were not small affairs either. They included the Pacific Day of Service, the Forest Grove Sidewalk Chalk Festival, the Optometry Department’s 5K Run/Walk 4 Sight, the Annual Corn Roast, the Oregon Technology in Education Network Annual Conference and the Berglund Center Roundtable to reflect on the conference.
For Pacific University’s campus, these events were huge. The 5K Run/Walk drew in more than 200 people and had little advertising, whereas the Chalk Festival was advertised throughout the summer.
While all of the events provided great opportunities for students to become more involved with the greater Forest Grove community, students were forced to pick and choose which events to attend.
Although students who signed up with the Pacific Service Day were promised they’d be back in time for the Chalk Festival and the Corn Roast, this was not so. It was not possible to participate in all six events.
Students were unable to enjoy the events they attended because they were crunched for time. The timing was not spaced out. Events overlapped for the majority of the time. Four of the six started by 9 a.m. and continued, like the Day of Service and the 5K Run/Walk for example, until completion.
Only the Corn Roast and the Roundtable were scheduled to start later and even this planning was flawed. Booths were setting up for the Corn Roast by 10 a.m. and to fully understand the Roundtable, students would have had to attend the Technology Conference.
The Chalk Festival and Corn Roast are planned far in advance because of the need to close down streets, so Pacific has no excuses for its poor planning.
There were no events even scheduled the weekend of Sept. 8. Wouldn’t that Saturday have been the prime date to host a day-long event? The 8th would have been the perfect day; with no other events students could have dedicated their time and energy to bettering the community.
With poor planning on Pacific’s part, students who wanted to be involved in various events were unable to fully participate without having to focus on the next place they needed to be.
The calendar showing events is available online. Pacific needs to use it.
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