1993. Freshman year at the Convent, otherwise known as Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas located in the aptly named White County. Oh how I hated HU. I only went there because my parents told me that if I didn't go there (I wanted to go to Alabama St. where my then-boyfriend Torrick was already attending or MS State with my best buddy Ernest) they would not pay for it and of course I didn't know a doggone thing about loans and stuff and how I could have declared myself independent and got more financial aid.
Anyway, HU (or Searcy) did not have a large black population. I think out of about 10,000 students only less than 150 were black. In the town, blacks made up about 15% of the population. And of course we were not united. There was so much drama all the time among us. In town and on campus.
I felt abadoned during my freshman year. When the recruiters were trying to get me to come there, they would call me and write me letters and send me cards for graduation and my birthday. One even came to my school, so you know I felt like a big dog!!
Once I got on campus, it was like, "Well, we've got you now so you are on your own!"
I wish I had realized then that the recruiters are paid to get you to come to their school, nothing more, nothing less. I didn't receive any guidance from my "advisor" about my classes or didn't have any information about tutoring or anything like that. With HU being a Christian school, there were no Greek orgs. or any other social orgs., just academic and church-based groups so it was like going to church all day everyday. Even on weekends. They took attendance at Sunday worship services!!
HU kinda had this cultish atmosphere. If you were female and you were about your studies or just having fun and not trying to get a husband or become a Sunday school teacher, then you were looked at as an outcast. Kind of like The Stepford Wives, only it was The Stepford Students. The administration was cold and the faculty was basically unreachable. I was so miserable. Don't get me started on my roommate. I'm not knocking anybody for wanting to be closer to the Lord but this chick was running for Jesus' Best Friend!! She was so heavenly minded she was no earthly good. Everything was a sin to her!! Watching The Simpsons, talking on the phone past 9:00pm, watching 90210, listening to music other than gospel, reading books other than The Bible, wearing your hair a certain way, going out on dates with more than one guy (she felt that a Christian shouldn't date unless she was thinking of marriage. Hey, I was 18 and the LAST thing I wanted was a husband!) just everything I did was condemning me to an eternity in Hell. I think my parents would have loved her. She dropped out as soon as her boyfriend proposed to her right before Christmas break. I got kicked out before Spring Break. (Grades, not expressing an insane desire to learn all the verses to Jesus Loves the Little Children, things like that.)
I wished I never went there to tell the truth. I wished I had kind of stood up to my parents and went to school someplace else but in their infinite wisdom I think they thought HU was best for me. I mean had I gone to ASU with Torrick, I would have never finished my degree. I'd have a bunch of his kids but no degree. I think me and Ernest would have done nothing but party all night and sleep all day had I gone to MSU with him. I did get my degree 9 years later from Saginaw Valley State. Sorry this was so long but I had to rant about the Convent.