Doc is staying

[ngineer]

I would say it is clear that the few loyal posters on here (hoops probably under 20) have a long love of Lehigh and their time there. You have to love the school to follow their athletics like we do, which probably 99% of alums don't follow. We travel to games, home and away, but we are very limited in numbers. A lot of guys on here will attend wrestling, football and basketball games. If you survey the under 40 alums, there may be none that follow Lehigh athletics, unless they were an athlete at Lehigh.

That being said, my love for Lehigh sometimes clouds some major issues that, I feel, the school faces. I don't think the school has been quick to adapt to the current landscape of college admissions. Most schools Lehigh competes with have country club like campuses. Lehigh has beautiful old structures, yet they have not really been updated on the interiors in quite a long time. When you go on a college tour of Lehigh, they take you to Lower Centennial dorms, which were never a highlight. It is welcome to 1970. I assume they do that because they have air conditioning, and parents, these days, are concerned about that. Even the Alumni Memorial Building where all tours start at Lehigh, is old, and not particularly updated. It doesn't tour well. You walk by a lot of old buildings that look amazing, but they don't take you inside for the most part and the insides aren't really impressive. When I toured it twice, recently, I had a feeling that what made Lehigh great in the 1980's and 1990's, and I'm sure earlier, is gone. The identity of the school for me was gone. Kids now want massive food courts, amazing gyms for working out, and beautiful study spaces where they can integrate with their peers. Lehigh doesn't have a lot of that. Linderman Library is an amazing old building, stunning actually, but I don't think it impresses students today. They want new and fancy. Kids show up at Lehigh to tour the school, and a lot of them want to know about the social scene and the storied Lehigh Greek system, which they know about. Nothing is mentioned about that. In fact, tour guides go out of their way to avoid the topic. It is almost as if Lehigh is embarrassed about their past. And, any social scene related to Greek life has been pushed off campus, for liability purposes, I assume.

I haven't had a chance to see all of the new on campus. I've seen the Business School that is now probably 20-30 years old, and I'm happy a new building is coming, as the current is already a bit dated. I haven't been inside the 3 new towers that I understand house upperclassmen, on the old site of Sigma Nu. That's a big upgrade, and a money maker for the University to keep kids on campus in on-campus housing, rather than lose them to the slum lords of the Southside. I've never seen the money that is probably being spent on the Mountaintop Campus, so can't comment there, but it wouldn't likely attract undergrads. I hope the new UC is incredible and has the eating options that modern campuses have, and study spaces, and meeting spaces.

I don't know, perhaps, like most of us, I am becoming a dinosaur. I think college now isn't what it once was. Now kids go to college, and there is a ton of pressure to get in, a ton of pressure to find an internship, and ultimately a job. If your education is going to cost $350,000, parents, rightly, want results. We went, studied a bunch, had a lot of fun, and we all got jobs eventually, and most of my Lehigh friends are really successful people. It just doesn't seem that much fun anymore.

There has been a ton of renovation and ongoing. The new UC looks tremendous and you have the massive new dorms on Brodhead Avenue where the old parking lot was. Then there are the new dorms on the old Sigma Nu lot. The 'RH-11" apts. that were opened in the early 70's are now on the docket for demolition to be replaced by new apartments that will connect via a pedestrian bridge to the "Sigma Nu dorms". Taylor has been upgraded well for an old historical building, though, granted, a new pool is warranted. But, as for Linderman....I have met so many young people who love Linderman. My 13 year old granddaughter wants to visit it every time we come on campus for a match, concert or game. As for South side Bethlehem, it is 1000% better than when I arrived as a freshman in 1970. Indeed were were specifically told by our Gryphons not to walk off campus, alone, and especially wearing "Lehigh" clothing out of concern for being targeted. Of course, in today's world, I don't we can take anyplace for granted as being safe...