Occidental College Student Reviews

Big Picture

When I tell people I go to Occidental they usually haven't heard of it and I don't blame them. It is a very small school, smaller than my public highschool. I enjoyed my first year here but things a math professor said at my convocation are starting to make sense. Occidental...there are monsters living under your bed. What I mean to say is that Occidental appears at first glance to be a very liberal institution that cares about its' students and faculty but it is really everything but. The only good thing about this school is our faculty. They are amazing but our administration on the other hand.... There is a turn over in administrative positions every year. There have been 4 presidents since I entered Occidental. Our school is basically run by our board of trustees who are only concerned with money. I worked at Telefund for a semester and I was sickened by how focused it was on obtaining money from alumni, and parents. There was little focus on building rapport with these individuals. Diversity is a big issue on campus. Most people on campus are way too PC. This is suppose to be an environment where we can learn from one another but instead we spend most of the time criticizing one another. Our campus safety staff sucks. That may not be very eloquent but it's true. Most of the campus safety staff does not care about the students. I was a sober sister for an event on campus and campus safety provided little assistance. They were dead bodies. I cleaned up vomit, helped other students that were too drunk to be there while campus safety continued to let students that were too drunk to be there enter the dance. I have still not received an apology for thank you. There is this illusion on campus that the administration and students work hand in hand but after a few years here you will discover that the administration cares little about what the students think and is more focused on their own interests. For example, I was rush chair last spring. Rush has always been held at the organizations houses but a new policy was enforced right before we were to go on winter break that would require all rush activities to be held on camps. The students were not consulted to this change nor were our opinions taken into consideration. It turned out that the decision was made by our advisor. I am no longer part of Alpha. It saddens me but I hate being wrapped up in a corrupt system and thats what Occidental is, corrupt. I wish I had listened a little more closely at that speech my freshmen year where the professor warned us of Occidentals monsters but I laughed with everyone else. Now, here I am, a senior, about to graduate from a college that I dislike, will never give to, and hope to forget.