Multi-Color Day and Alpha Phi Alpha’s restoration of the Attucks Academic Tutorial Challenge Program home show that not all students on SIUC’s campus are apathetic and lazy. Their actions are testament to the power of student involvement in the betterment of this University.

Maintaining and preventing declining enrollment in a university is always an important issue in the minds of administrators. Without students there is no university, and with students comes also money for the improvement of the university. So in a time when issues involving enrollment at SIUC is an issue of debate, it is good to see programs such as the Multi-Color Day attack the issue in a sensible, affordable and fun way.

Multi-Color Day allows minority students an opportunity to see the University first-hand. It allows them to register for classes and meet instructors, but most importantly it allows them to meet fellow students that perhaps could develop into lasting friendships.

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Events like Multi-Color Day could be SIUC’s enrollment oasis. Enlisting the help of fellow SIUC students make it all the more appealing for prospective students. The eagerness that participating students displayed concerning both Multi-Color Day and the Attucks project shows that there is more to SIUC then a lingering party image.

The Attucks Project Restoration that occurred over the weekend showed the influence of SIUC outside of campus. It also put the idea of the communiversity, the working together of both University and the Carbondale community, on display.

The Attucks Project is a program that helps local children with homework as well as provide guidance in after school matters until parents come home from work. The members of Alpha Phi Alpha did not have to spend their Saturday afternoon helping restore the house that holds the program, but they did it anyhow as a way to give back to the community that they will eventually journey into.

The actions of both Alpha Phi Alpha as well as the organizers and participants of Multi-Color Day should be emulated and recreated time and again on and off campus. With all the debate between faculty and administration concerning the future of SIUC, and the perception that SIUC students are lazy and apathetic, it is reassuring to see such positive action in the community.