Why Rose Rocks, Part III

Rose rocks because Rose is in Terre Haute.

Yes, I went there. Because it’s true. I’ve heard what most Rose students have to say about Terre Haute, and I’ll get there, but first I want to get to Mayor Burke’s speech during President Jakubowski’s inauguration. One thing he said several times was something to the effect of “Terre Haute is proud of Rose-Hulman, and it’s time Terre Haute was a town Rose-Hulman could be proud of.” The other was the way he gave his speech.

Attendees noted that he was very hesitant and stuttered a good deal. This could be because he isn’t very comfortable at giving speeches, or he hadn’t prepared, but what I think it very likely was, was that he was nervous to be addressing Rose-Hulman. Not nervous to be giving a speech, not nervous to be addressing a large crowd, but nervous to be addressing all of the professors and a good portion of, what I hear often, “the best and the brightest in the country.” I think it’d be a little like what you’d be like if there was someone you really admire, maybe even really look up to, but you felt they were somehow just leagues better than you in some way. Then put a lot of them in a group, and give them a speech. It’d be a humbling thing to do. When I meet members of the Terre Haute community, there is a large number of people that act like that about Rose. Are we really somehow so much higher that they should feel that way? On the one hand, it’s a great compliment, but on the other, do we act in such a way that they feel so inadequate or inferior?

There are plenty of reasons why Terre Haute is a city we should be thankful for and proud of. To start with the most basic things and work up: Traffic is virtually never a problem. The cost of living is quite low. The temperature range is pleasant - it isn’t burning hot or freezing cold for any long time. The people are all very polite, friendly, and respectful (without knowing that you’re a Rose student). Also, consider the schools that have to put up with being in a college town, where the town exists only because of the school. We have much more than that.

I suppose some of the problem is that many students are just used to what they have back home. “Terre Haute doesn’t have…” or “Back home, my city has…” but really, I doubt they have truly looked around. Back home, you met people that had lived there for a while who could tell you where things were. Here, the trick is to… ask! However, I have also met those whose noses are so high in the air that I doubt they could ever see anything nice about any other place that wasn’t virtually identical to their home town.

A common complaint is that there is nothing to do in Terre Haute. Terre Haute has several very nice parks. Most types of restaurants you could ask for (without going out of your way to be eccentric, since I doubt you do back home) are here. Many of them are not immediately obvious, so ask someone that’s lived here a while (most professors come to mind). There are also several concerts and plays each month - I’m not certain if it’s a permanent feature, but once I found an issue of The Woods, a publication by St. Mary’s, and it listed 30 or so events of that type for the upcoming month, with virtually all of them being public events at public venues in Terre Haute. Additionally, between Rose-Hulman and ISU, there are many fraternities and sororities, many of whom put on public parties.

With all of those things, I’m not sure what to say to someone that claims that there is nothing to do. About the only sort of thing I can think of is they wish to attend some major concert. Well, if you wish to do that, Bloomington is forty-five minutes away, Indianapolis is an hour away, St. Louis and Cincinnati are about 3 and a half hours, and Chicago is about four to five hours. I’m pretty certain that you could find any thing you’re missing here in one of those places. You can have the benefits of living in them without having to deal with the traffic, higher cost, and noise.

If you think you would use the city every night and soak up the night life, surprise me. Most alumni that I have talked to that live in more ‘exciting’ cities do something neat about once a month, and for once a month you can drive a few hours.

So, that brings me to about two complaints that I’ve heard from students. One is sheerly a matter of preference - I can respect someone prefering to live in a different climate, landscape (such as mountains or coastline), and all I can say is I hope you make the most of your time here. The other is what most refer to as the Hautian Stench. Given that we are a tech school, if you cared enough to try to help the community that provides such a nice environment for you, you’d give back. And one amazing way to do that would be to do an independent project, senior design project, or community service for the sake of community service! and help the companies clean up. For Civies, ChemE’s, Chemists and Environmental Engineers, that’s probably fairly easy. But that isn’t to say the rest of you couldn’t get involved. I know Terre Haute is proud to have us here, but it would be great if they were proud of us as citizens too - many students do things to help the community, but before the next time you complain about Terre Haute, consider whether you are among them.

No city is harmed by trying harder to make itself something the citizens can be proud of. However, Terre Haute deserves a second look from the Rose community before we turn away and declare that we aren’t proud of Terre Haute. Any city can be bad if you try hard enough to find the negative. But at Rose, I feel students have passed down their feelings of having a lack of knowledge of The Haute and the feeling has spread. Rose is a safe, peaceful, and fun place to study thanks to Terre Haute. Seniors, be sure to say thank you on your way out. Underclassmen, take a look around and explore - you still have time to enjoy Terre Haute for a while longer.