University students cannot help but have a rich awareness of the space they inhabit. The physical landscape of Grounds — from the majestic to the mundane — is imbued with meaning. The Academical Village in particular bears history’s footprint.
Unfortunately, students get few opportunities to gather in communal space. Lighting of the Lawn, Convocation and football games are some examples of events that lead students to come together for a common cause. But these events, though important for the University’s sense of self, are massive. Space-sharing does not equal social fluidity past a certain threshold of people in attendance. Instead of meeting new people, students are more likely to stick by the friends they have already made.
Humanities Week, a celebration of the humanities that kicked off Sunday evening and runs through Friday, provides a compelling example of how an organization can empower students to make effective use of common space.
With few exceptions, the site for all Humanities Week events is Dawson’s Row behind Cabell Hall, in front of the Institute of the Humanities & Global Cultures. Students in an OpenGrounds seminar called “The Humanities in Place” designed a “Humanities Tent,” a makeshift structure of white cloth that serves as part shelter and part art installation, in which the week’s events are held.
OpenGrounds, a studio space on the Corner, has attempted to serve as a common space for students to connect and collaborate. OpenGrounds has been successful to a degree. Certain student groups use the space for meetings, and others drift in for the occasional seminar. But OpenGrounds, despite its central location, has not established an identity as a place for University students. It is a communal space, but only for those who are plugged in enough to know about it.
Humanities Week imports OpenGrounds’ ethos into the University’s central campus geography. In doing so the Institute of the Humanities & Global Cultures makes a piece of University land open to all students and faculty. The space is small enough to preserve social spontaneity and maximize the quality of connections forged there, yet large enough to maintain an inclusive atmosphere. The week’s events also provide just the right amount of formality to foster a sense of community. People may stretch out on the Lawn, and lines may stretch down the Corner, but for people to actively share a space rather than silently commingle requires a common purpose or reason for being there. The grassy plot in front of Dawson’s Row is a site that the Institute has pledged to a certain idea —the humanities — and in doing so it has encouraged students to make the space their own.
Too much of our time at the University is spent enclosed in classrooms, buildings or our homes. Opportunities to gather in common space combat the atomized routines many students follow.
Public places where all are welcome remind us that the University exists as a community, and it is for the sake of this community that we all seek to contribute in manifold ways.
As the weather shifts abruptly from winter to summer, we hope more organizations than the humanities institute seek opportunities to create spaces for students to come together. We’ve got sleek stretches of green grass and columns the Athenians would envy — it’d be a shame not to share them.
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