Before you enrolled at Simpson, didn’t you think that college life was going to be great?

Parties, pizza, sports, music, friends and fun-filled weekends. I had visions of keggers and scantily clad coeds dancing in my head the entire summer after my senior year.

Once you’re actually here, though, you begin to wonder why you brought your toga at all. By the weekend, Dorm rooms empty out and parking lots look as barren as a Thursday morning in Representative American Writers class. My question is simple: Why?

We just began spring semester, yet last weekend Simpson was evacuated as if they had found the plague in Kresge. Even Mordacai Brown could count the students left on campus on one hand.

People left to go home, visit friends at other colleges, or take advantage of the nice weather at any number of Iowa’s resort towns and vacation hot spots. Those left behind made do with the entertainment only Indianola has to offer (hanging out in front of Subway or pestering the ever-cheerful Wal-Mart employees, etc.). So what can we do about it?

I know that the Campus Activities Board is working with a limited budget. There is no question that they do an excellent job with bingo and other games on weeknights. However, they need to cater more toward the students’ wants when it comes to weekend activities.

We need live music that people want to go see. I know Luther has a much larger budget, but they pull in acts like Live and Dave Matthews Band, while we get the likes of Brenda Weiler and Alex Goldfarb.

Sure, the Nadas are coming in April, but it’s really not a treat when they perform in Des Moines every month. There are many up-and-coming bands that would play at Simpson for a relatively low fee. We just need to get them here.

Sports are a fundamental part of college life, yet we can’t fill the stands at our sporting events. The wrestlers went up against Iowa State and still relatively few students were present.

Our basketball teams played weekend games against Loras and Dubuque. Yet the stands had enough seating for all of French Guiana. Where else are people going to go? We need to fill those seats.

Anyone who’s watched a Duke game on television knows how a crowd can impact a game. The “Cameron Crazies,” as the student section is collectively known, gets behind their team with non-stop energy. Little wonder that Duke is the number one team in the nation.

This weekend we play the Central Dutch, the latest chapter in a rivalry that makes Israel-Palestine look like a sorority pillow fight. I hope that there isn’t a vacant seat in the house.

Lastly, there’s security. I have nothing against people protecting our campus. It’s when they go out looking for trouble that I have problems.

Sure, mistakes are made. Frat houses have been put on probation. This leaves students with few options for places to socialize on campus on the weekends. Usually the word will get out that some house or apartment is having a social gathering.

A few guests turns into a mob and soon you have an all-out bash that makes “Animal House” look like “Full House” (Uncle Jesse = Otter).

I’m not asking for anarchy; that would be sophomoric and childish. I just think the college would do good to cut the students of Simpson a little slack when it comes time to unwind.

They’re going to do it somewhere; it might as well be here promoting community and togetherness rather than scattering to the winds, leaving Simpson a desolate and lonely campus on the weekends.