I first came to the Ohio State University as an undergraduate student in 1969. I rode my dinosaur to class and tied him up at the hitching rack in front of Townsend Hall. The snow was so deep that winter it came up to my dinosaur’s shoulders. Just kidding. About the snow I mean. Last year when I returned as a graduate student I noticed that, while some things were still the same (using wide margins to make a paper longer) there had been some basic changes which I find very alarming. They affect the very fabric of university life. Take for example: backpacks!In 1969 there were no backpacks! There were, of course, brief cases. But they were carried only by uptight business majors and stuffy professors. I know this is hard to imagine but we carried our books in our arms.On the surface it would seem that the advent of backpacks is a good thing. For one thing, they promote good posture. Wearing a backpack with heavy books forces you to stand up straight with your chest thrust slightly out. I understand there has been an unaccounted for increase in eyestrain among male students, but that is surely due to too much studying.The social implications of backpacks are staggering! How in the world do students meet each other? In my day, when a young lady was interested in a young man, as she was walking by she would accidentally drop a book or paper which he would immediately retrieve. A conversation would ensue and that was that. The record was held by a young lady from Dayton. She lost control of a twenty page history paper (She had prudently made another copy that was tucked safely away.) and within five minutes she had met eight different young men.Do not think that women alone relied on such subterfuges. One male variation was the borrowed textbook ploy. One fraternity which was not known for its scholarly achievements reportedly had a lending library of professional texts. Their members would carry on top of their freshman English text (which they were trying for the third time to pass,) a medical school or law school text. The young man would seat himself next to any attractive young lady, heave a dispirited sigh and remark how exhausting med school was.With the advent of backpacks, these social niceties have lost a certain subtlety. Taking your backpack off and dropping it on the ground with a helpless little moan will at most get you an escort to the student health center. A male student approaching a female to remark “I have a medical school text in my backpack!” might well find the object of his attention trying unobtrusively to sidle up to a blue telephone box.While I suppose I must admit backpacks are a much more efficient method of carrying books, I can not help but feel a certain je nes sais pas is gone from university life.
Rebecca Sellers is a graduate student.
