On October 22, I decided to rev up the 1997 Ford Explorer to go to Methodist University's Homecoming football game. I looked forward to this day for weeks beforehand. For some twisted reason I always look forward to returning to the land of the Green and Gold.
I kept taking jabs at MU (and Fayetteville in general) in mediums such as these until I got saved in October 2009. Since then I've made a conscious effort to not even talk about the university or bash it, and Methodist has made some vast improvements to its overall atmosphere.
Dr. Ben Hancock is in his first full year there, and he's already cleaned up the residence halls, developed some great future plans for the school, and put on a public relations blitz towards the alumni. A nursing program was also pushed through, and it's added 160 new students, about 85 percent of that being female. The male-to-female ratio has improved to around 60 to 40. And the school's really beginning to grow in size.
I was able to see these things again, and I was also able to see a number of people that I went to class with, hung around with, and partied with. Most of them have jobs or are in graduate school. It seems like half of them are starting families, as well.
Later on I settled in with a few friends of mine, and we went downtown for dinner and drink. I eventually wound up at DM's Sports Bar (formerly Double Bogey's) which wasn't all that impressive in hindsight. Methodist students have switched college bars several times in the last several years, and apparently they have gone full circle to DM's after souring on Last Call and being banished from Izzy's. It was more of the same stuff that I got used to at Methodist: the male-to-female ratio was 90-to-10, and belligerence was at a high level. The nursing program did not exist at that moment.
Despite this reality, I think Methodist is on the up and up, and I really do feel that the students are happy. There are still some issues, most notably overcrowding and retention numbers.
Seriously, if you if you cut the number of freshman football players from 130 to 40 or 50, you'd lose a little money but eliminate the bulk of your retention issues. But give Dr. Hancock time to tweak some things. He hasn't begun the cleanup process yet.
When I was a student, I believed that the main issues of the university were a lopsided male to female ratio and retention. Do you believe that these are still issues? If so, what are you going to do about it?
We are MU.
I kept taking jabs at MU (and Fayetteville in general) in mediums such as these until I got saved in October 2009. Since then I've made a conscious effort to not even talk about the university or bash it, and Methodist has made some vast improvements to its overall atmosphere.
Dr. Ben Hancock is in his first full year there, and he's already cleaned up the residence halls, developed some great future plans for the school, and put on a public relations blitz towards the alumni. A nursing program was also pushed through, and it's added 160 new students, about 85 percent of that being female. The male-to-female ratio has improved to around 60 to 40. And the school's really beginning to grow in size.
I was able to see these things again, and I was also able to see a number of people that I went to class with, hung around with, and partied with. Most of them have jobs or are in graduate school. It seems like half of them are starting families, as well.
Later on I settled in with a few friends of mine, and we went downtown for dinner and drink. I eventually wound up at DM's Sports Bar (formerly Double Bogey's) which wasn't all that impressive in hindsight. Methodist students have switched college bars several times in the last several years, and apparently they have gone full circle to DM's after souring on Last Call and being banished from Izzy's. It was more of the same stuff that I got used to at Methodist: the male-to-female ratio was 90-to-10, and belligerence was at a high level. The nursing program did not exist at that moment.
Despite this reality, I think Methodist is on the up and up, and I really do feel that the students are happy. There are still some issues, most notably overcrowding and retention numbers.
Seriously, if you if you cut the number of freshman football players from 130 to 40 or 50, you'd lose a little money but eliminate the bulk of your retention issues. But give Dr. Hancock time to tweak some things. He hasn't begun the cleanup process yet.
In fact, if the Dr. is reading this now, I'd like to finish by asking him this...
When I was a student, I believed that the main issues of the university were a lopsided male to female ratio and retention. Do you believe that these are still issues? If so, what are you going to do about it?
We are MU.
