Every week, the editorial board reflects on a current issue in Our View. The position taken does not reflect the views of everyone on the Hilltop Views staff. This week’s editorial board is composed of Viewpoints Editors Victoria Cavazos and Sully Lockett and Editors-in-Chief Rosemond Crown and Jacob Rogers.

For a campus filled with young people during the day, St. Edward’s University looks suspiciously like a graveyard at night.

There is no such thing as a night or weekend life at St. Edward’s. 

As the 2 o’clock bell rings on Friday afternoons, students flee from the campus like migratory birds headed to warmer lands only to return on Monday morning.

There are many possible explanations as to why the campus does not appeal to students at night or during the weekend. 

It could be that 62.8 percent of students live off campus, according to Institutional Research, and have no choice but to go home.

Or it could be that the Office of Student Life and other departments responsible for encouraging an engaged student body are not doing enough to put on weekend events that will attract students during their off-days. 

It may be the pervasive lack of school spirit a serious roadblock to achieving a more vibrant campus culture. 

Regardless of what the root of the issue is, this issue has defined the lives of the unlucky university freshman for years, and there does not appear to have been any active efforts to change it. 

Scattered efforts to attract students in the forms of things like movie nights, events at Jo’s and cultural events in Ragsdale have failed to create the kind of atmosphere which encourages students to hang out on campus and create a more active social scene.

Although our main priority for being in university is to learn and gain an education, it is important that students are able to find entertainment on campus. 

When there are no events on campus to hold student’s attention, they go off to the city, where they are more likely to engage in activity phrased delicately as ‘less in line with the ideals of the university for the student body.’

It is possible that the university administration is perfectly satisfied with having a quiet, uneventful campus, but many students surely are not.

There could be more movie screenings or sporting events. Athletics are a big part of the college scene, and not having many night games, like soccer, doesn’t help with school spirit.

We understand that the school has to cover itself, and that it can’t be seen to be soft on drinking on campus. But at the same time, isn’t it equally cold hearted to simply force them off campus?

Yes, the liability is no longer SEU’s issue, and it’s not always true that campus is safer, but the levels of trouble you can get into on campus, with UPD or the Dean of Students, as opposed to, perhaps, 6th Street, are somewhat less.

Perhaps what the school needs is a campus bar. 

Somewhere where students of legal age can congregate.

Someplace where off-campus students could enjoy a pint and watch a band play or maybe meet someone,with a different schedule or major and enjoy a conversation. 

Maybe something good could come out of a richer campus night life. 

Maybe more students would take on their world.