Community Time: Good Intent, Poor Impact
From the beginning of fall term, Exonians came face to face with a new, strange part of the schedule: "community time." Supposedly, this time should enable us to bond with people we don’t normally run into—people in a different year or in a different dorm. It is also meant to make time for us to talk about key issues, like sexual assault or school values. In the middle of every other hectic week, we have time that isn’t for class or for an extracurricular, but instead a time uniquely for reflection. We should therefore use it to take a break from work or from our social lives to think about our community.
Community time is definitely motivated by good intentions, but cynicism is an ingrained part of our culture. Many of us, myself included, are ambitious, and think too much about how to keep moving forward. When we aren’t working, we’re caught up in our social lives. Only rarely do I have time to sit and just think about my life, about my values. With community time, the administration tried to give us a time that was still structured but not as structured as formal class time. In effect, they thought that freeing up that time might allow more Exonians to reflect on what their community really means to them. It was supposed to bring a little earnestness and goodwill to our community.
When I first heard about community time, I was honestly excited. Rather than sit in H format I would have one free period reserved for reflection. And the first topic—campus values—was one that interested me. We frequently hear about living up to the community values John Phillips articulated for us. However, we never talk about what those values really are, beyond the usual “non sibi” or “Harkness.” Finally, I thought we would talk about what being an Exonian really meant, what our “Exonian values” really were, if they even existed.
Unfortunately, the first community time did not live up to my expectations. It was somewhat disappointing, at least for me. Rather than have a real, honest conversation about Exonian values, we watched faculty perform skits about basic school rules we should all already know. Our conversations afterwards were bland, full of repetitive, stereotypical comments on Harkness and diversity. Very few people, I think, wanted to be there.
Here lies the problem with the idea of community time. You cannot force people to think about their values. You cannot force people to take part in a community if they do not want to do so. If you do force it onto Exonians, then community time becomes a pointless, school-run activity, which students will ignore and resent.
At the same time, we cannot return to what we had before, when there was no time for reflection. Instead, we should reserve community time for community activities but let students choose them. For some, community may mean participation in ESSO clubs. For someone else, it might mean going to a club they love. But I guarantee that it will mean different things for different Exonians. I understand that community time is still a work in progress. But, I hope the administration will take criticism to heart and work to improve meaningful time.