Last summer, Pepperdine received some buzz after being featured in two different top 10 lists. One, by GQ, cited Pepperdine as one of the douchiest colleges in the country. While the other, by the Huffington Post, cited Pepperdine as one of the trendiest colleges in the country.
At the same time, a couple of other lesser-known entities (mainly blogs) also featured Pepperdine on their lists. For some time now, Pepperdine has been included in top 10 lists that feature Pepperdine as one of the most prudish and sexually conservative universities.
The inaccuracy of the listed reasons Pepperdine makes it on these lists is worrisome. After yet another list commented on Pepperdine’s (non-existent) fence separating men and women dormitories, I decided to go on a hunt of other Pepperdine inaccuracies mentioned on the web and compiled a list of the most common.
No. 1 Everyone is Caucasian.
The percentage of non-white students is a lot higher than most outsiders expect. Due to its location, a lot of people expect the student body to be composed of Caucasian students who love the beach. In “Top 10 Douchiest Colleges in America,” GQ suggested that a common Pepperdine student characteristic was “silken, natural, uniformly blond hair.” However, Pepperdine’s growing diversity can be seen in the freshman class. With 51 percent of the freshmen student body identifying as non-white, the growing diversity of the campus can be seen just by walking to main campus.
No. 2 Everyone is wealthy.
Location also plays a big factor in this misconception of Pepperdine. Located in Malibu and surrounded by so many Hollywood stars, it’s no surprise people might assume that only wealthy students come here. Besides that, there’s the slightly high price of tuition and housing. However, most would be surprised to know that at least 75 percent of the student body receives some type of financial aid, whether it’s grants, scholarships, loans and/or Pepperdine or Federal Work Study.
No. 3 There’s a fence dividing the men’s and the women’s dorms.
This is one that popped up on several lists including the ones placing Pepperdine in the top 10 “Most Sexually Conservative” and “Most Prudish.” “At Pepperdine there is an expectation of sexual abstinence, which the college tries to facilitate by prohibiting its students from drinking alcohol and having a fence segregating the men’s and women’s dorm buildings,” said collegemagazine.com ranking Pepperdine No. 4 on their prude list. The truth is, there is no fence dividing the men’s and the women’s dorms. Dorms are single-sex, but only in Upper and Lower Dorm Road dorms, which are typically inhabited by freshmen or transfer students. Lovernich and Drescher have students of the opposite gender living next to each other literally a couple of steps away from each other’s doors. With the recent modifications being done to the housing system, some dorms will be co-ed next year.
No. 4 No members of the opposite sex are allowed in the dorms.
“There are no members of the opposite sex allowed in the dorms,” said the same blog. This is an exaggeration of the visitation rule enforced in the dorms. Students of the opposite gender are not allowed to be in the dorm room between 1 a.m. and 10 a.m. and are not allowed to be in the dorm’s lobby after 2 a.m.. Really, any text asking you to come over after 1 a.m. is simply a booty call, therefore probably a bad idea. That rule is just helping you save face and avoid more awkward encounters with other people throughout campus. The rule applies throughout the entire year except for Hell Week. During this week before finals the dorm’s lobby becomes a 24-hour study area where members of the opposite can study hard.
No. 5 No dancing.
While it is true that Pepperdine was behind the times when it came to the dancing scene (no dancing was allowed for quite some time), it was in the late ‘80s that things changed for Pepperdine and the floodgates of body grinding were opened. One only needs to walk into the freshman dance during Frosh Follies to see that we are way beyond the point of not dancing. We’re now trying to conceive babies on the dance floor.
No. 6 Students are not allowed to hold hands.
This doesn’t even merit a rebuttal. All I have to say is that they should look at our hugging culture to see how we feel about body contact.
No. 7 Everybody surfs.
The school is located close to the beach, that’s true. Every student has a “Black cherry Toyota FJ Cruiser with a surf rack on top and a ‘Ride a Wave, Save a Soul’ bumper sticker on the back,” GQ joked when they ranked Pepperdine number five in their “Top 10 Douchiest Colleges.” However, it would be interesting to actually see how much of the student body frequently surfs or even goes to the beach. Although the beach is there, often times the beach is used to take photos of beautiful sunsets and flood Facebook with them.
No. 8 Everybody is conservative.
Due to its affiliation with the Church of Christ and its mission statement, a lot of people get the impression that Pepperdine is overwhelmingly conservative. “I always tell kids this about Pepperdine: they just started allowing men and women to dance with each other on campus about five or six years ago. That pretty much tells you where the Pepperdine administration is compared to other colleges and universities,” one very concerned parent posted on a college discussion forum. To that parent I say, look at myth No. 5. While it is true that the administration and some students are conservative, that does not mean that the entire University is. Take for example the current LGBT situation on campus. While the administration decided to deny Reach Out club status, there has been a number of students, alumni and faculty members that have shown support for Reach Out.
No. 9 Everybody is affiliated with the Church of Christ and if you’re not they will convert you.
For one thing, people outside of Pepperdine would be surprised to know how many students are not affiliated with the Churches of Christ. Take for example the freshman class. Only 13 percent of the class are Church of Christ while 16 percent are Catholic. In the same class 23 percent described themselves as an other kind of Christian and 16 percent were undecided.
No. 10 Students have to attend Convo every day.
If we did, I wouldn’t be here. There are Convos all throughout the semester and students are only required to attend fourteen each semester to get an A. Students can also choose to not attend Convo and get an F. Give me … an F.
