GUEST COLUMNIST: The playground of freshman year

Michael Silver, Guest Columnist Michael Silver, Guest Columnist Frisbees flying through the air. Boom boxes blaring, with bass so powerful that the speakers could blow at any moment. People gathering, eating, laughing, studying and gossiping. Pick-up football games, guitar string plucking and hacky-sack playing. Why do I mention all of these images? What could possibly link this multitude of items? In the spirit of brevity, I can sum it up in two words: the Quad. The answer is the Quad is the best feature of our University. No matter how much the admissions office extols other features of Penn -- the community service programs, the library, the ability to study with world-renown professors, the city of Philadelphia, the plethora of extracurricular activities -- they just can't emphasize the beauty of the Quad. Our admissions staff is handicapped because the Quad's brilliance cannot be empirically measured -- in essence, the Quad must be experienced in order to be properly appreciated. Pre-frosh with inquisitive parents are indeed led by silver-tongued tour guides who shower endless praise upon the Quad. Maybe if they're lucky they'll even catch a glimpse of the inside of the mammoth edifice. But this is not the same as participating in your first truly meaningful conversation about God and religion; spending hours of time procrastinating while debating the merits of classical music; or building relationships with people that will last a lifetime. Many words can describe the Quad -- collegiate, historic, social, bustling -- but the most appropriate word is a rather simplistic one: random. The Quad exudes randomness in so many ways. Random hall selection results in us making random friends, which in turn allows us to meet more random people. To this day, I'm amazed I can still easily get lost while trying to navigate around certain parts of the Quad -- and each time, I still encounter new random people! The Quad is not immune to criticism. It's been depicted as too Jewish and Asian American and not diverse enough. I'll admit that for a freshman dorm at a school which prides itself on diversity, the Quad is relatively homogenous, racially and ethnically. A visit to Hill House will confirm this. I offer no explanation for this phenomena, and I feel the ethnic, religious, and racial polarization we all know exists in many facets of University life will never recede if the Quad remains this way. Despite the homogenous nature of the Quad, I do not feel some sort of void in my interactions with other students. Why? Whereas ethnic or racial diversity may not exist in abundance in the Quad, diversity of ideas is plentiful. While one may posit that "diversity of ideas" is a bulwark of college life in general and not specific to the Quad or Penn as a whole, I believe diversity of ideas permeates the Quad at an especially high level. For example, just the other night I engaged in a lively and provocative discussion about the existence of God, religious tolerance and missionary cult groups. What is the significance? As I looked around my friend's room, I appraised the religious ideology of the seven people participating: one atheist, two agnostics, one Orthodox Jew, two Reform Jews and one evangelical Christian. Can one deny the diversity of this group? The diversity of ideas present in the Quad becomes apparent because of its unique ability to foster interaction. The random nature of the Quad allows this to occur, and the open door has much to do with this. An open door is an invitation for conversation. While my roommate and I try to always keep our door ajar, I must admit our efforts pale in comparison to unrenovated folks. The phrase 24/7 (generally anathema to me) acquires a whole new meaning in the Quad; all day and all night, there is someone awake, someone in the study lounge and someone willing to engage in discussion. I've encountered many peaks and valleys during my freshman year here at Penn. Making the social transition to college life wasn't difficult but wasn't perfect either. Classes often vacillate from being inspiring to downright pointless. A tremendous amount of "politics" exists here, especially at the administrative level. I'm not particularly fond of the proliferation of cliques on campus. And the crime spree last semester shook me up like everyone else. But through it all, the Quad has remained my home. The friends I made the first week -- whom I may never have met if they weren't my neighbors -- will remain friends for life. I will never forget those halcyon days of early September, when college seemed a mere continuation of summer camp or a youth group retreat. Walking through the Quad on a warm spring day brings back those memories, as seemingly all 1400 Quad residents emerge from a collective winter cocoon in order to gather in the courtyard. To all my fellow freshmen -- I urge you this weekend to take a moment and reflect on what living in the Quad has meant to you. Non-Quad residents? My deepest sympathies. Upperclassmen? For you, the recollections will be even more sentimental. But everyone -- don't just wax poetic about your first hookup or the first time you vomited in a hallway. Instead, reminisce about the first time you said, "This is what college is all about." Recall the first instance in which you were exposed to a new idea which altered your thinking. And most of all, remember the first time you stared up at those ugly behemoth structures called the high rises and remarked, "Damn? I'm living there next year?" I made that comment about three weeks ago. I'm going to miss the Quad.