This editorial is about the Observatory.
Wait! Don’t stop reading, not just yet anyway.
Not to beat a dead horse, but for Linfield students, especially upperclassmen, its closing is a problem. It’s more than just a matter of convenience; it’s a matter of nostalgia. For the Review, the Observatory was one of those quirks that made Linfield Linfield. What’s next to go?
For the class of 2013, the freshman experience is a different one than it was for this year’s seniors. It’s one without the Ob, Linda or the Old Oak. The Whites, the Greens and the Reds have been renamed. Next year’s orientation will go without a speech from Dean Hansen. Even Dillin’s Mexican food has changed.
What will define Linfield for this year’s freshmen?
The landscape of the college is evolving, as is inevitable. But there’s something to be said for tradition, which trumps cost efficiency in the case of the Observatory.
For many students, these institutions are what made Linfield stand out from the beginning. Sappy as it is, these endearing qualities have helped class after class of Wildcats make a home away from home. Now that these college symbols are defunct, how will we define ourselves?
Right now, losing the Observatory just puts us one step closer to generic.
In the future, people will look back at past issues of the Review and wonder why we were ever so up in arms about petty changes. Maybe we haven’t been at Linfield long enough for these alterations to be trivial. Maybe we’re too resistant to change (some of us are still upset about losing the wrap stand in Dillin in 2006), but for a lot of us, our personal lives change enough as it is.
Every year ASLC sponsors new dances, contests and celebrations, each with the potential to be held annually. Few, however, become tradition. We’re all for this. More should be done to bring the student community together.
However, we’re so concerned with starting new traditions that we fail to pay attention to the ones we already have.
Perhaps the point we are trying to make is that Linfield is on the edge of something new; maybe it’s too soon to tell.
It’s just something to think about.

–The Review Editorial Board