Monday, October 26, 2009

Commentary-Final

It’s 10:00 in the morning and the select students who were forced out of bed begin to make their way to class. As they pass the Student Union, one would expect to see morning dew on the trees, squirrels and birds enjoying the suns bright rays, the smell of sweet breakfast being cooked at Wackadoo's and Chick Fil A. All of a sudden, ear-shattering speakers blasting brutal heavy metal music abruptly halt the morning sereneness. Say goodbye to the squirrels because there’s a new animal by Student Union, an electric beast raging and roaring from the speakers of what you read to be the Heavy Metal Appreciation Club at UCF. Founded in 2006, The Heavy Metal clubs mission statement, stated on their MySpace page, is "To increase awareness, legitimacy and acceptance of heavy metal musical styles and culture, to promote a sense of community among listeners, and to expose each other to new styles of music through the creation of an open forum." The world has its views on metal and the club here tries to break that stereotype by showing there's a fun and friendly side of metal. While I respect the club's existence, there are a few issues at bay. But overall, the main problem with the Heavy Metal Club at UCF is that it's too loud, too early, and harms the business of clubs and organizations as well as student’s grades nearby.
On www.observationsofanerd.blogspot.com, recent surveying has concluded that there are a higher percentage of night owls in college students over any other demographic of people in the United States. With a fact as such, the last thing any student would want to hear on their way to class after a night with lack of sleep is fast paced metal. While many students are up late studying and sleeping their day away unless woken by class, there are just as many early worms that bring the campus to life at dawn’s break. Most people that choose to get up early have an agenda and are always busy tackling their most important obstacles in the wee hours of the morning. The result is that many difficult classes and important faculty/staff meetings wind up taking place very early and are scheduled as such to avoid distractions and the business of the campus later in the day. The student union is located at the center of the University of Central Florida’s campus where it stands in the company of the UCF Library, the College of Sciences building, Engineering 2, Health & Public Affairs, and Classroom 1. Being in such a crucial area, the sounds of what’s going on at the student union echo their way around their immediate area, all the buildings listed above. With this said, the Heavy Metal Music club at the University of Central Florida should not play loud music near an area where so many students and faculty are trying to get important work and studying done. I believe it’s worth saying that such a distraction could have an unprecedented effect on students’ grades in the long run if the Heavy Metal club continued its early music sessions. According to Jacques Wright, a student who wakes up early to attend his anatomy and chemistry classes says, “After long weekends, I wake up three to four hours early to get in a solid study review for an exam or quiz I have that morning. Some days however, the Heavy Metal club is playing their music so loudly I cannot hear myself think.”
The other problem affects morning birds, night owls, and metal heads themselves; that is communication. The student union serves as a center of distribution of news, current events, and information on different things occurring on campus to students. A numerous amount of non-UCF organizations are out there as well. During election times, many candidates make trips to the UCF campus or send representatives who pay a substantial fee for being able to post a tent. Many political campaigns come out such as Power Shift 09, a campaign as stated on http://www.powershift09.org “fueled by young people across the country to demand bold action on climate and energy in 2009. They are urging President Obama and Congress to pass a strong and comprehensive climate and energy plan by December that creates millions of new jobs, ends our dependence on dirty energy, brings America lasting security and reduces harmful global warming pollution.” With such a short time frame to increase awareness of the movement and to be able to make a superb difference in the eyes of Congress, it is very important that organizations such as these be heard; especially among college students who have enormous potential for making change in office over other groups of people. All of the other clubs and organizations that are outside of the Union trying to convey messages and gain support or votes cannot be heard over the loud music of metal playing as well. Most fraternities have a frat house off campus (many of which are farther away than you’d think) and don’t have the advantage of being widely known because they are off campus, unlike many sorority houses. I guarantee that two to three times more individuals know of Delta Delta Delta than individuals who know Iota Phi Theta. The point is that these smaller clubs need a way to advertise their existence and do so by hanging outside the student union where they can converse with fellow Greek community members and simultaneously gain new pledges. In both cases, time is of the essence and less time heard is less people joined and less money made. Groups like Power Shift 2009 and TOMS shoes who depend on those few hours a day Monday through Friday are extremely undermined due to the annoyance of really loud music. Nobody wants to go to campus to hear speakers blasting at concert level decibels. It is quite a sight to see a crowd with a pleased look on their face next to a bigger crowd of people with looks of discontent on their faces. Most of the clubs and fraternities don’t have all the time in the day to be out there and don’t gain as much student activity. The importance of this issue is that productivity is slowed near the student union and the music creates a big distraction to students studying for their early morning tests and organizations with limited time to make business.
If things were different, say the Metal club set up their tent at 3 or 4pm, I don't think there would be as much of a predicament. I mean let’s face it; as students and faculty getting up early most of the week, we're simply cranky when we get up and things (especially loud things) can be nearly intolerable. A later time in the day or a relocation of the Metal club's tent to a less busy area would make everyone happier. The music wouldn’t bug as many people as it would in the morning compared to the afternoon. This is usually when students and some faculty get a second boost of energy for the day and aren’t as grumpy, plus its super hot outside and fewer people choose to hang out outside. If the Heavy Metal club relocated to areas with less foot traffic, say between Ferrell Commons and the Health Center, not nearly as many would complain of their high volume music. In my opinion when it comes down to it, the simplest solution to end the dispute between the Heavy Metal club and other clubs & organizations is to just turn the volume down! Students such as Laurent Saint-Louis say these words of wisdom, “If the Metal club just brought a boom box to the student union instead of an Orange or Gibson professional grade speaker/amplifier, the volume would be nowhere near distracting as it currently is.”

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