During the first year of college, growth and independence come hand in hand.
Many students join groups in which they learn time management and make friends who share common beliefs.
Unfortunately, one organization thinks freshman year should be focused solely on academics — not on activism.
For the past seven years, MSU's College Assistance Migrant Program, or CAMP, has paid significant college fees for select migrant workers and their children. While most of these students come from low-income backgrounds, CAMP pays the freshman-year tuition that financial aid does not cover.
Even after the first year, CAMP provides students with winter clothing and a fraction of the cost for books. CAMP even manages to help its students find part-time jobs and off-campus housing.
But along with these donations, the students are prohibited from becoming involved with any student organizations during their first year at MSU. While it is in CAMP's power to dictate what activities students can't participate in — it is footing a rather large bill — that doesn't mean it is right.
CAMP argues the prohibition is to keep students focused on their studies. Its goal is to keep the members in school and not allow their grades to suffer as a result of extra-curricular activities. It believes that students have a better chance of graduating if they do not spread their time thin during the first year of college.
In the process of preventing its freshmen from joining student groups, CAMP forgets its own activist roots of migrant worker awareness. A group based on activism is ultimately excluding its own students from using their voices to elicit change.
Students who join organizations as freshmen are more likely to hold higher-status positions later in college than those who join as sophomores or juniors. By excluding CAMP freshmen from participating, the organization is lowering its members' chances of holding notable positions that instead go to other students.
Student activism also teaches time management. By balancing classes, homework and a side project, freshmen learn early how to manage their time. This is a clear advantage over undergraduates who are bombarded with responsibilities later in college. Students in CAMP will not have the advantage of learning how to manage their time during their first year and will suffer as they get older.
CAMP has 70 students enrolled in its program this year. These 70 students are hindered in properly articulating their views on significant social topics, even including immigration.
The reputation of CAMP is unfortunately corrupted by this one rule. If CAMP expunged the regulation, outsiders and potential members would be able to see the group for what it truly is — a remarkable scholarship program.
CAMP does appreciably assist many students who otherwise wouldn't be in college, but in a straight-minded track of academic focus, CAMP forgets that student involvement is a crucial sector of freshmen growth.
