As a sort of gift to students after a long Thanksgiving break, President Garrett came up with the idea of throwing a holiday party on Monday called “Mingle and Jingle.”
Before my arrival to the Memorial Union Deck, I was tired and ready to go to sleep after a two hour workout session at the Student Rec Center. I could remember the day in which President Garrett had told The Bulletin about “Mingle and Jingle,” and it certainly sounded interesting enough, but I was not sure if I would be too up for this sort of event after working out.
I was wrong.
The “Mingle and Jingle” actually had turned out to be somewhat bearable and entertaining. We (The Bulletin) were told by President Garrett that there would be an ugly sweater contest, but I am not too into sweaters, so I did not think this would be something that I would want to view.
To my surprise, not only did I somewhat enjoy the ugly sweater contest, but I enjoyed the “Mingle and Jingle” in general. There was hot chocolate readily available to everyone in attendance that I just could not stop drinking because there seemed to just be an impressively perfect blend of chocolate, sugar and warmth with every sip. And even though I did not try them myself, there were gingerbread man cookies that everyone around me kept saying were delicious.
Speaking of those around me, while at the event, I thought that it was great how many ESU students and faculty and staff were in attendance. Of course, President Garrett was there leading most of the mingling, but other faculty were there as well such as, David Cordle, ESU provost, Jason Bosch, Director of the Memorial Union, Fred Karcher, Sodexo General Manager and many more.
I enjoyed the idea of being able to interact and “mingle” with some of these faculty members without the pressures that normally come with meeting with them any other time about a controversial issue that often occurs on campus.
One of the best aspects of the event was the lighting of Wooster Bridge, which turned out to be the icing on the cake of a surprisingly wondrous event, but I had my reservations about the occasion as well.
For starters, I felt that the ugly sweater contest was judged unfairly and this does not take away any of the hard work that any of the contestants put into their specific sweaters. All of the sweaters were great, but for future reference, I would not allow for the contest to be judged by the crowd because that easily allows for contestants to bring a huge group of their friends and have them cheer obnoxiously loud for them and that just does not sound fair for the person who puts a load of time into their sweater, but ends up losing just because a bunch of their friends did not show up to support them.
Most importantly, the event seemed to have a lot of Christmas undertones to it that I thought might have turned a lot of other students away. Sure, there may be a lot of lights in some other holiday traditions celebrated in December, but I guarantee that everyone does not adore a large, white man in a red suit who calls himself Santa Claus nor do they use trees as a sort of symbol for their holiday.
These are Christmas symbols, and I actually do not think many people had an issue with the fact that “Mingle and Jingle” was sort of Christmas themed, but as I looked around in the crowd, I noticed something very important–most of the people in attendance there were white.
Now, that is not to say that all white people celebrate Christmas, but it is certainly safe to assume that they do. How can we, as a university, revere and admire our minority and international students so much and then not point out how exclusive this event turned out to be?
I think “Mingle and Jingle” went well. I always enjoy seeing President Garrett interacting with students and faculty outside of her office because even if she may be having a bad day, she at least makes you feel important and as if she cares deep down, and I believe she does.
With that being said, an emphasis on inclusivity should be the primary focus next year with one of the most important questions being: How can we include the students who may not necessarily celebrate Christmas or any holiday during these times?