On its website, St. Thomas advertises that out-of-state students will feel “@ Home @ St. Thomas.”
Out-of-state Tommies even have special events from St. Thomas Activities and Recreation, a page of resources from Campus Life and a dedicated position in the Undergraduate Student Government.
Yet, when it’s time for St. Thomas to back this sentiment up with policies that support out-of-state students, the university falls short.
Thanksgiving break is coming up — and by “break” I mean the day of Thanksgiving and the following Friday. For many out-of-state students, this means that they will be forced to skip their Wednesday classes, travel through the night, or travel early on turkey day to get home in time to celebrate with family.
Rylee Fitzgerald, a sophomore from North Dakota, is unsure about what to do.
“I’m going home, but I have a class until five that Wednesday,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m trying to decide if I want to drive three and a half hours in the dark or if I’ll wait until Thursday morning, which also isn’t ideal.”
Of course, students could also stay at their home away from home: St. Thomas.
However, if they do choose to stay on campus, they shouldn’t expect a turkey dinner, or any food at all.
Dining Services will close at 2 p.m. the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and will reopen the Northsider at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 28, just in time for all the Minnesota locals to return to campus for dinner.
Sophomore Maddy Majewski is staying on campus over the break rather than returning home to Illinois. Upon hearing that she wouldn’t have access to on-campus food, she had to stock up on frozen meals to eat in her residence hall over the break.
“I was lucky enough to talk to my mom and plan stuff out,” Majewski said, “but if people don’t have the resources I had to plan something for those four days, what are they going to be doing?”
Last year, Dining Services offered an option to order meals during the break, but that choice wasn’t available to students this year.
The St. Thomas campus shuttle, which provides free transportation between the St. Paul and Minneapolis campuses, could be a viable option for out-of-state Tommies to go get some food. That is, if it weren’t also closed for Thanksgiving break.
As a Milwaukee native, these policies have made it complicated for me to get home for Thanksgiving, even though home is only one state away. It’s worse for my peers who are from further states or even other countries.
If the university wants out-of-state students to feel “@ home @ St. Thomas,” it needs to implement policies that support that idea.
Students should be given the day off before major holidays to travel home, and if students decide to stay at St. Thomas, they should be given resources to eat on campus or travel elsewhere to get food.
If not, out-of-state Tommies can’t be at home here.
Angeline Terry can be reached at Terr2351@stthomas.edu.