Don’t exclude commuters

Callie Burgan, Opinion Editor

Last year, there were complaints that the annual pumpkin hunt hosted by Program Board members was not fair to commuter students.

The main issue was that most of the hints were released at night, when 40% of students were not on campus. 

This year, although the hunt was shortened to one day, Program Board members did not start hiding pumpkins until 1 p.m. which still excluded students.

We think campus activities should be offered for everyone, regardless if they live on campus.

It isn’t fair that each student has to pay a yearly activity fee for activities like the pumpkin hunt if only a certain proportion of them have any realistic chance to participate in the fun.

All campus activities, especially those like the pumpkin hunt with expensive prizes, like a TV, should be open to every student to enjoy.

If there is not going to be a fair chance for every student, commuters at least deserve to have their own hunt with equally desirable prizes.

Resident students would be able to continue their nightly hunt while commuter students would be given an equal chance to win at a time when they are on campus.

Although commuters are a campus minority, they deserve to share the same feeling in a community that resident students have.

It falls upon club members to properly fund and effectively market activity opportunities to students in ways that accommodate both resident and commuter students.

If the Pitt-Johnstown community truly wants commuter students to be connected and involved with campus-wide activities, they need to be given the opportunity to do so.