Throughout my years as a student here I’ve found myself genuinely invested in the communal atmosphere of Pepperdine. I served for two years as a Resident Advisor and one of my supposed responsibilities was to help foster community within the residence halls. More recently I have found myself as Student Government Association (SGA) president essentially serving as a representative for all undergraduate students.
In each of these positions I’ve been surrounded by the talk of the Pepperdine community or lack thereof. Meetings have been conducted committees have been formed and brainstorming sessions have taken place on numerous occasions all in efforts to create this sense of community. Despite these continued attempts I still hear from students faculty staff and administrators about their hopes of a more unified Pepperdine community a day-to-day community that thrives throughout the year and not just during NSO or Homecoming Week.
Many believe the solution is to promote school spirit and greater attendance at sporting events while others feel the answer must be a wider range of social opportunities offered on campus. I too have plenty of ideas but I can’t say I have a real definitive answer. Yet maybe before we can solve the problem of community at Pepperdine we need to understand what community really means. Maybe higher attendance at sporting events more social opportunities and a catchier melody for the fight song are just the tip of the iceberg.
What if community meant more than just a group of people who live in the same place?
What if true community means actually caring to hear your roommate’s story?
What if true community means taking out the earphones putting down the iPhone and getting off Facebook for five minutes to listen to someone else to help a friend out?
What if true community is not created in committees but in genuine personal relationships?
If these are not a part of Pepperdine’s reality then we are in trouble. It means that the responsibility for the creation of true community does not rest solely on the shoulders of the administration the Housing and Community Living staff or of SGA but on us all.
Talk to anyone who has been a part of a true community and ask them how it started. Most likely somewhere in their excitement of speaking about their community they will emphasize the “extra effort” that each person must put forth to make community a possibility. That effort involves service sacrifice and devotion to genuine caring relationships.
Even more so I am amazed at the number of individuals who want to create community. Our liveliness is so consumed by this aim that we rarely see reality: those beside us who need our attention and touch. The best way to live in a community is to have no agenda but to live intensely give effort openness to others listening and welcoming.
Committees meetings and “what if” questions can only do so much but the united efforts of an entire campus with the sentiment of true community in mind have far greater rewards. In all honesty we don’t want smaller multiple communities. We want one: the Pepperdine community.
