Student Life

Every morning I wake up and gaze out my dormitory window at a gorgeous campus with modern buildings surrounded by clean fields of clean-cut grass. The only thing that might appear odd to any average SU student about this sight is that this beautiful looking campus was not their own. As I explore the surrounding campus near my dorm, Sadler Hall, there are several observations made which helped to determine the areas of "trivial conflict" and areas which seem to reflect social norms. One major observation made in this activity was the small community known as ESF (College of Environmental Science and Forestry). Several subtle and some obvious observations were looked at to determine how this area fit in with our community.

There are several vital facts one should know about SUNY ESF. The college is located directly behind the Carrier Dome and is a separate school from Syracuse University. My dorm, Sadler Hall, is one of the few buildings which surround ESF near the edge of campus. In order to drive into ESF, or even Sadler Hall, there is a security shack where you must first check in with a guard. The ESF campus is strikingly different from the SU campus in that the majority of the buildings are very modern and the community as a whole is much smaller. The campus houses no dormitories or eating quarters, so all ESF students share these facilities with SU students. While doing further research I also found that most of the other recreational services are shared with SU students.

One of the major preconceptions of ESF students is that they are all tie-die wearing, tree hugging, pot-smoking hippies. When first realizing that ESF existed, I found myself picking out in my head the ESF students from the SU students. The student diversity at ESF is in fact immense for having such a small community of students. Matt Renkas, my RA and an ESF student, informed me of what it is like being an ESF student and living on SU campus. ESF and SU both offer a choice for freshman to