As a member of the Linfield Review staff, I’ve attended many events on campus.

Most of them are beyond words, inspiring and full of facts I’ve yet to learn in any classroom.

Often times I find myself wishing that more people would go to them and take away the same feelings as I do.

However, with this hope, comes consequences. Many professors are now requiring their students to attend events and speakers, which is great, except for when they really have no interest in being there in the first place.

My most current example of this is the freshmen colloquiums requiring its students to attend the “Voices of Hiroshima” lecture.

I was ecstatic to see the turn out at the beginning of the event. Every seat was filled and students were asked to sit on the ground lining the stairs and railings of the balcony.

However, this was short-lived, because after the first speaker had finished the telling of his story—his life and the affects of Hiroshima on his family—many students had gotten up and left during the transition to the next speaker.

This continued for the rest of the event and after each speaker, the audience got smaller and smaller.

I couldn’t help but feel disgusted by the behavior exhibited by these students.

The speakers, many of whom this was their first trip to America, were excited to tell their stories.

It was a chance for them to share not only their stories from Hiroshima, but also share their culture as a whole. Their faces and posture clearly showed they were excited to be given this opportunity to talk to students.

Why couldn’t the students leaving show that same excitement?

The answer is simple and applies to many events here at Linfield. The students leaving didn’t actually want to be there in the first place, they were only required to go.

They stayed just long enough to show their presence, get enough information for a quick essay and other short responses.

Another incident I heard of was at the Maxwell McComb lecture on Sept. 24.

After sitting through part of McComb’s speech, students in the front row got up and left Riley 201.

Many different Linfield departments work very hard to get all the visiting speakers to come lead discussions and give leacture to the student body and McMinnville community.

It is understandable they want people to attend, and the only way professors and faculty can guarantee an audience is by making it mandatory for their students to go.

Now this brings up the issue of a quality audience versus the quantity of the audience.

It is an issue that there really is no answer to yet.

Either the audience is filled briefly or the audience is small and is hooked on every word.

I only suggest, everyone here at Linfield thinks about how it looks to these distinguished guest.

Let’s all have a little respect and stick out the events we go to.

Besides, if a class is requiring you to be there, shouldn’t you be there the whole time anyways?

Kaylyn Peterson / Managing editor

Kaylyn Peterson can be reached at [email protected]