At approximately 6 a.m., a number of students were already starting to gather on Clinton Field. Some students began writing their concerns on orange flags, which are currently stuck in the lawn in front of Luther Hall. Photo by Amanda Gahler
By Jackie Albrecht
Beginning around 5:45 a.m., Wartburg students began gathering on Clinton Field to unite and march to Interim President William Hamm’s house in an effort to have a winter Outfly declared.
This movement, also known as Project Orange: Outfly for a Cause, is a student-led initiative organized by Student Senate in an effort to have Wartburg student voices heard and student grievances understood by the administration.
“This is my fourth-year as a student senator, and I find it frustrating that we’ve been pushing for the same issues for four years and have made little to almost no momentum at all on some of these issues,” Student Body President Travis Bockenstedt said.
Student Senate has been planning Project Orange since early February. Senate has identified nine platform grievances they feel need to be addressed by the institution.
The nine platforms are: tuition inflation, campus sustainability and environmental initiatives, residence hall improvements, ITS and technology funding, faculty feedback, accessibility and special needs accommodation, faculty-administration communication and support, international student support and The "W" locker room access.
In order to go through with the planning of Project Orange, senators had to get 1,000 signatures from members of the student body. One thousand signatures was a goal set by members of the Student Senate executive board.
Roughly 1,300 students signed the petition in agreement that the nine grievances outlined by the Student Senate are a problem on Wartburg’s campus.
Bockenstedt said Student Senate decided to organize a march to the president’s house and declare a winter Outfly due to its strong tradition in Wartburg’s history.
“I think it makes a statement that we believe in an old tradition and that we are really using a tradition in the spirit of what it’s intended to be, and that is a day for students. So why not have it a day for a cause too?” Bockenstedt said.
Although this is a day to rally the students in an effort to make their voices heard, Bockenstedt said this movement is also about upholding students’ own responsibilities.
“Students should be asking questions about a place they pay $35,000 every year to go to now. They should be asking important questions about where their money is going, the quality of their education, the quality of programs provided,” Bockenstedt said. “I don’t think we’re asking those questions, and I think that can be dangerous for any organization.”
Although time will soon tell as to whether or not Hamm will officially declare today as Outfly, Bockenstedt said it doesn’t truly matter if Hamm declares it or not.
“I don’t feel that President Hamm needs to personally declare an Outfly to have this event be a success. The most important to me is that we have united students together on a common cause, and that’s a cause for change,” Bockenstedt said.
Bockenstedt said the Project Orange movement shows students care about the future of the institution.
“[It’s] a cause to improve our campus and leave it better than we found it. To leave it a place that alumni can happily call their alma mater. … That’s what’s important to me—to uphold the Wartburg name—and I think that’s what we are doing because it shows that students passionately care about this institution,” Bockenstedt said.
Check back soon to learn what the effects of the students’ march has been, and whether or not Hamm has chosen to officially declare an Outfly.