Editorial: Poor event turnout reeks of anti-intellectualism

There are many advantages to attending a large university like UConn, including clubs, sports, shows, a large range of classes and programs of study and up-to-date facilities. There's also the sheer number of people one may meet. The student body is known to take advantage of these.

However, a resource that UConn students frequently do not take advantage of is the lecturers who come to speak on pertinent issues in the community as well as national and international issues. Some also come to speak of their work in different fields or to lend their voices to different causes. The student body should reflect on its tendency to silence these voices in regards to their issues, their causes and their achievements by not attending.

In the month of October alone, UConn students have the opportunity to hear a virtuoso pianist and a number of authors and professors speaking on topics from Metanoia - a university-wide stand against and reflection on violence against women running from Oct. 4 to Oct. 10 - to chemistry and the environment. Every department at this school sponsors these guest speakers not for the sake of furthering their reputations, but for students to educate themselves. Plus, these lectures are almost always free, so exorbitant costs are not an excuse, nor should they impede student attendance. Granted, student life is busy with class, homework, clubs, sports and social lives, and priorities need to be set. But to continually neglect speakers in favor of the things that seem more "fun" or more aligned with the "Animal House"-esque college experience we all seem to buy into sends a message that the No. 1-ranked public university in New England and its students should not be proud of.

Merriam-Webster defines anti-intellectual in part as "opposing or hostile to intellectuals or intellectual view or approach." This is not to accuse the student body of hostility - however, simply by not attending lectures, students fulfill a portion of that definition; they stand as opponents to the spread of knowledge with their continuous absence. As college students, this is not a reputation we should want, or even associate ourselves with. We live in a country currently attempting to transform primary education from a seasonal institution to a factory of geniuses, yet we seem more concerned with losing our minds than filling them to their potential. For an outsiders who have worked their whole life to give something to the next generation, to be ignored by those most capable of taking that information a step further to better the world is extremely disrespectful and reeks of anti-intellectualism.