Come spring 2009, Jack Eichner, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, will no longer be at AU, not because he plans to study abroad or take a year off from his education, but because Eichner has decided AU is not the right school for him.
Eichner felt stirrings of disappointment with AU during his first year; he went so far as to apply to transfer. Yet at his parents urging, he came back for a second year only to find that AU still did not meet his needs.
Eichner, who hopes to become a writer and contribute “to the intellectual DNA of the human race,” said the literature department fell short of his expectations both academically and in the physical setting of the classrooms.
One of his first literature classes was set far back from the quad, “well in that radius of things that you need to run the fuck away if the chemical corps excavation project ever goes wrong,” Eichner said.
It took him 10-15 minutes to get there each day, and while passing the newer buildings on campus, Eichner said he would wonder, “‘Why they gotta put me and my lit class all the way in this shitty building in the chemical radius and not give us any respect or money or funding?’”
Academically, Eichner criticized AU’s approach to creative writing as being too focused on studies of the abstract rather than the application.
“There’s a tendency to talk about stuff in an over-academic way that really sort of limits you from actually doing anything,” Eichner said. “You’re just talking and talking and talking and bringing up all these concepts that don’t actually mean anything, ever.”
In addition to academics, Eichner said the social community at AU failed him. He described himself as a “classic introvert” at a school “designed for extroverts.” He said he would prefer to relax with a couple of friends on a Saturday night than go to a party.
“It seems like the only place to meet a group of people where you can talk about stuff that’s not a classroom situation seems to be a frat party, and I hate those,” Eichner said. “I can’t stand them. They don’t fit me.”
He said that if alternatives to the party culture existed at AU, no one had told him about them.
Matt Wolkoff, also a sophomore in CAS, said he encountered social issues at AU that he thinks may partially be attributed to the school’s tendency to attract a certain type of student.
“We’re a school that really fosters a lot of political sensibilities and a lot of ambitions,” Wolkoff said. “A lot of people I encounter just seem like they would sell me up the river without a second thought if it would benefit them.”
While Wolkoff noted a high prevalence of students like that at AU, he did not think it was unique to the school.
“I don’t think you can go to a place where people wouldn’t sell you short for whatever it is that they want,” Wolkoff said.
He said he considered transferring but decided his current academic and financial situation make AU the best place for him.
Eichner’s experiences at AU contrast with the university’s 90.5 percent retention rate between freshman and sophomore year. This is the highest AU’s retention rate has ever been, according to President Neil Kerwin.
This is in contrast to the ACT Inc., report released in 2007-08, which said that the retention rate going into a student’s second year at colleges across the country was 65.7 percent, the lowest it has been in 25 years, according to Inside Higher Ed.
In a 2004 report, ACT found individuals’ academic-related skills, academic self-confidence and academic goals to be a strong factor in the decision to remain at an institution.
Eichner said he should never have come back to AU after his first year here.
“[It has] just been awful here this semester,” Eichner said. “Knowing you don’t want to be in a place and not being able to leave, it’s just like prison at this point.”
Eichner said he submitted transfer applications to schools with strong liberal arts programs including Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, and - his top choice - Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass.
While AU has not made Eichner happy, he said the school was the right choice for some students.
“AU is good for [people on pre-professional tracks] because it provides them with structure and direction,” Eichner said. “I just kind of want to go my own way a little bit, and going your own way at AU, you’ve got all this logistical shit you’ve got to get out of the way first, and it just doesn’t work for me.”
You can reach this staff writer at sparnass@theeagleonline.com.
