Andy Hoke
Students who didn’t attend the Lehigh football game can hear chants from Goodman Stadium, which makes them second guess their decision.
Hundreds of students are cheering on our Mountain Hawks at beautiful Goodman Stadium. The weather is perfect and Lehigh is on its way to winning another Patriot League championship.
Except this isn’t happening.
Don’t get me wrong, the football team is certainly winning games. With back-to-back Patriot League championships and no sign of letting up, Lehigh football is making a name for itself.
But where are the students?
While our athletes are representing Lehigh to the best of their abilities, we reward them by either not showing up to the games or by getting too drunk in the parking lot beforehand and never even entering the stadium.
I don’t think drinking and partying is a good enough excuse to miss a game.
Students have four years at Lehigh and if all they can say about their time here is that they partied on Saturday mornings instead of attending sports events or other school events, was their time really well spent?
I’m not asking for students to throw away all of their old habits and traditions. This is what Lehigh is founded on.
Traditions like bed races, the band marching through classrooms, and wearing our brown and white colors all make Lehigh, Lehigh.
But I think making it up to Goodman Stadium a couple times per season isn’t too much to ask for.
As an avid sports fan and someone who is extremely proud of Lehigh, I am saddened to see how neglectful some of our students are, considering how much Lehigh has to offer.
Goodman Stadium and the surrounding mountains provide a stunning backdrop for some amazing games that are played there. When the sun hits the trees at the far end of the stadium, the whole mountain glows. You just can’t beat the view.
I’m not just talking about football either.
The wrestling team is almost always a contender for the NCAA National Championships. The basketball team was just one win away from making March Madness during the 2016-2017 season. The Lehigh softball team was the Patriot League champion last season for the 14th time in Lehigh history.
Still, with all of this talent and history, no one bats an eye when sports teams experience triumphs.
However, when the chief of police changes a policy on campus about partying, the student body goes up in arms.
I think, as a student body, we need to have our priorities in the right place.
This school can be very divided, whether it’s by Greek houses, sports teams, clubs, the marching band — I could go on. Rather than being content with constantly being separate, our student body could use something that brings us together.
I think attending sports games will do just this.
This would bring more interaction between students from different groups. It would be an enjoyable experience —different from just partying. Something to be proud of.
I have noticed growing animosity on campus about the way Lehigh has handled certain aspects of its social affairs. But every week, we can still feel proud of being a Mountain Hawk no matter what club, Greek chapter or sports team we’re on.
Sports can connect us all.
It is up to us, as the student body, to answer this call to action. Let’s break the norm and create a new culture at Lehigh.
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Andrew Hoke, ’20, is an assistant sports editor for The Brown and White. He can be reached [email protected].
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