Tyler Tolman, 6 June 2016, Bangkok, Thailand
In the wise words of an exceptionally tall brunette, “Earlham College is under a state of great tension.”
Earlham College, in spite of its ironically conservative Quaker roots, proudly markets itself as an academically quirky, exceptionally international, and aggressively progressive undergraduate institution. Students from all over the world joyously congregate in the lush cornfields of Richmond, Indiana to indulge in the glory of a liberal arts education, sharing their wisdom to further social justice causes and improve the world overall.
Neatly displayed across giant billboards scattered throughout the Midwest region, Earlham College asserts that “nowhere is the world closer.” One of the country’s 40 Colleges That Change Lives and a recent addition to Forbes’ Top 100 U.S. Universities, Earlham College is just starting to utilize marketing tactics and university rankings in its favor, a new precedent for an institution that until recently did not believe in advertising. For the first time in Earlham history, the college wants to be noticed. Cliché advertisements feature smiling faces, a plethora of nationalities, and an aesthetically pleasing campus promote a utopic image of the humble liberal arts college, effectively putting Earlham College on display.
You may be thinking “What’s the harm in this? A little advertising shouldn’t hurt anyone.” And that’s a valid reaction. Besides, marketing is simply a natural part of keeping an undergraduate institution financially healthy. It’s about time that Earlham participate in mainstream private institution tactics to survive in an increasingly cutthroat education system. Marketing spreads the name and reaches a larger number of students, turning enrollment goals into reality. Earlham College isn't too alternatively superior to market itself.
Struggling to maintain a student population of 1,159 students (including graduate students), roughly half the size of the average liberal arts school, we cannot deny the urgency to recruit. However, underneath the tokenism-fueled diverse smiles and interracial friendships used to lure in prospective students all over the world, the tastefully captured photos purposely blur the tensions and struggles of a rapidly changing institution and student body, feeling forgotten by the administration.
The Earlham Admissions and Financial Aid Committee confirmed the need to recruit more students to survive financially, but they clarified their underlying objective in asserting the need to attract greater economic diversity to the institution. In other words, Earlham College needs richer, wealthier, and therefore, whiter students. Earlham College, in its efforts to effectively market itself in hopes of welcoming more prospective students than physically capable, appears to have the tendency to put current students’ needs and interests at a lower priority than those of shiny, upper-middle class prospective students.
As the infrastructural dysfunction of Bundy Residence Hall allows bathrooms to cave in and crumble to the ground, the Center for Science and Technology serves as a bright new gem for STEM oriented high school students, a key ending destination for Earlham tours. As students request housing exemptions due to an inability to pay an overly inflated room and board fee, Earlham College grants students the opportunity to live in a tiny house on College Avenue, keeping in mind the use of having a future exemplification of Earlham sustainability and innovation for the public. As students report racist agressions and behaviors from their professors and fellow students, diversity statistics and intentionally displayed faces of minority and international create a racism-free atmosphere.
The underlying motives of various changes on campus prove quite clear as the campus continues to shift its image in the hopes of attracting a wealthier student body. In spite of the absolute lack of demand, Earlham College will not only add a new golf team next fall, but also a lacrosse team to the Division III’s athletic repertoire. Students remain confused, witnessing two sports with nonexistent demand rise while they mourn the loss of needed services on campus. For example, it was just announced that ITAM, an area designated for educating students on basic visual and audio skills, will be shutting down and no longer available to Earlham students next fall. Academic departments, services, and the physical buildings of the campus themselves are put under speculation. The elements of campus that lack essential, elitist marketing luster seem to be disappearing, making room for the fostering of a more universal, in demand vibe.
Marketing and advertising are not innate evils. Earlham College is a special place, tucked inside the beauty of a desolate corner of Indiana. More people should know about Earlham College. What causes the tension lies within the changes intended to appeal to a larger public. The quirks and rejection of the typical elitist facets of other undergraduate institutions have been sacrificed for the sake of increased enrollment numbers. Financial pressures to increase enrollment and squeeze more money from its undergraduate population, restricting the transferring of credits, housing options, and meal plan exemptions, have trumped pleas to tug Earlham away from commercializing itself beyond recognition at the cost of its current student body. Overflow housing will require first year students to live in Olvey-Andis Residence Hall, traditionally meant for upperclassmen, while the pile of rejecting housing exemptions continues to grow at a frustrating rate.
Recruiting and catering to the needs of wealthier students while further improving and simply meeting the needs of current students is the main debacle on the Earlham College campus, the main area of contention between students, faculty, administration, and senior staff. What is the key to balancing financial urgencies with fairness and the wellbeing of students? Based on the results of last year’s discussion, the solution, clearly, must not be that simple. Yet, this debate remains unpublicized, covered and blurred by drone-captured images of The Heart, people of color smiling in dorm rooms, and golf-club-filled promises. When various college recruitment letters, donation requests, or large billboards appear across the country, look further into the significance of the advertising. Try to see the ominous sentiment lurking beneath the slogan, "Nowhere is the world closer."
