Why is That the Senior Class Gift?

By EZEKIEL KINGSBURY

The Class of 2025 gift is “dedicated to supporting the newly established schools at Beloit. This fund will provide grants for conferences, research projects, and student-led initiatives, ensuring that future students have access to incredible opportunities just like we did,” according to Satirtha Protya’25. 

I do not aim to paint this as a terrible decision or to pretend this funding will be in no way useful for future students. However, I worry. 

When I arrived at Beloit, there was a living history. As I recently recounted on a Round Table Radio segment, there were cultural events from Peet Fest to Folk n’ Blues (which importantly occurred on campus), there were student bands, there were special interest parties, etc. It was a very different Beloit than the one I now graduate from. 

The Beloiter spirit is undeniably dying. While President Boynton is trying to improve our school’s appearance to prospective students and their parents through the emphasis on career readiness, the spirit that once convinced all sorts of fools, including myself, to climb into the open sewer hole that used to be behind Middle College is quickly fading. 

Looking at past class gifts reveals a thoughtful pattern of supporting campus culture and community spaces. The Class of 2024 chose to revitalize the Dr. Debra Majeed Lounge in MI, preserving a vital gathering space for student connection and community building. The Class of 2014 planted trees in memory of Beloiters Justine Ringberg’13 and Raquel Nunez’13, creating living memorials that honor our shared history and loss.

Perhaps most emblematic of Beloit’s unique character was the Class of 2006’s decision to build “the Wall,” arguably the most culturally central part of our campus and a space that has fostered countless spontaneous gatherings, Bell Runs,  and the kind of organic community-building that defines the Beloiter experience.

I doubt our College will end up like Northland. I don’t think this liberal arts school (even if soon, very soon, it may not be recognizable as a liberal arts school) is going to shut its doors. But within the next four years, I doubt there will be any Beloiter spirit left to be recognized. 

To me, this class gift fails to recognize the cultural crisis we face. Shared ritual, shared space, and shared meaning will soon be a thing of the past. I wish more was done to preserve it. The “Schools” initiative may save us from collapse, but it is intangible. It is abstract and often unintelligible. When we fail to invest in what we can see, what we can physically touch, we lose our soul. Relationships are not built upon ideas. Memories are not built upon philosophies. The Beloiter spirit is not built upon mere initiative.

Featured Image: Beloit College