Providence College

Date: May 12 2004
Major: Political Science (This Major's Salary over time)
First things first: I feel like I was duped into coming to Providence College. Because members of my family were alumni and had an excellent experience there, I was subject to biased perspectives from their standpoints. Understandable. What is reprehensible is how Providence College deceives potential students who come on campus tours, to Family Day, and even at Orientation. First of all, if one sifts through the school website, very little is said about how strict a Catholic School it is. Namely, I am talking about the Parietals enforced in all dorms (this means that no one of the opposite sex may stay in the dorms later than midnight Sunday - Thursday, or 2am for Friday and Saturday), the lack of reproductive health care offered to women, the emphasis on Theology classes(2 Courses) as graduation requirements (99% of which focus solely on Catholicism), and the broad knowledge of Catholicism needed to understand the Development of Western Civilization. Indeed, Providence College excels in hiding all these unfavorable conditions, which are truly a huge part of the "PC experience", from prospective students. Unfortunately, I unknowingly chose to attend Providence College because of the hefty merit scholarship I was offered and my admission into the Honors Program. Now, as a student at Providence College there are a few 'safe places' which manage to escape total domination by the administration. Personally, I have been impressed by the Honors Program, the Political Science Department and the Women's Studies Department in particular. These safe havens I have encountered make my stay at Providence College easier, but as a whole, I am not sure if they are completely enough to change my opinion of the school. In other realms of academics, I have been astonished at the ideological intolerance of many professors (outside of the Political Science and Women's Studies Departments). In my Development of Western Civ class, one professor went so far as to firmly assert that it was a travesty that feminists can't seem to understand the differences between male and female, and that, although Eve was created as submissive to Adam that it did not mean that they weren't created equal. First of all, as a women's studies student—feminists don't typically argue that women are the exact same as men. Secondly, and more importantly, this professor completely used his authority as a tool for intolerance with total disregard for making students who disagreed with his viewpoint uncomfortable. This is only one story… there are many more. Aside from academics, the double standards applied at Providence College are atrocious. Within the past couple of years, several students were expelled for printing flyers concerning abortion as an "immaculate conception" and posting them in the central academic building. Recently, an unnamed college basketball star was arrested on assault charges for attempting to choke his girlfriend IN his dorm room, AFTER parietals, and, as of yet, he has not been expelled. Another, more minor example? Students are encouraged to go to the on-campus bar and watch "Sex and the City" on HBO but the administration refuses to support (and largely discourages) the student production of Vagina Monologues, where all proceeds go toward preventing domestic violence. Another example? Guards are only present in the all-female, freshman dorms and largely serve the purpose of enforcing parietals. In the co-ed dorms and all-male dorms, no guards are present and parietals are very loosely enforced. Another things? The fine for breaking parietals is the same as having alcohol in your room underage. And quite apparently, the police do not exist on the PC campus because there was 263 Liquor Law Violations subject to on-campus discipline but O arrests. Check the PC Security website for details at . For the most part, students are completely complacent with the dictatorial nature and "double standards" of the administration. It is utterly disappointing. Although I am impressed with the Political Science Department, The Women's Studies Department and the Honors Program, the administration and student population here make my experience at PC completely unenjoyable. On the issue of transferring, I am caught between a rock and a hard place because 1) it is difficult to get merit scholarship money as a transfer student 2) credits from DWC don't transfer well—AT ALL. If you are considering going to PC, I have one piece of advice. Find someone who you think is alot like you who goes there—make sure of it—if they like it, you probably will. If they don't like it and you are friends with them, take that as a warning. Although a large population of students do enjoy Providence College, they are all the same. Similarly, PC typically drives away the same kind of student: namely, those of us who are socially-conscious, politically aware, liberal, friends of LGBTQQ people, non-drinkers, and/or non-Catholic.