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Letter to the Editor | Different Shades of Miami: Oxford and Hamilton campuses reveal opposing atmospheres

By Alex Randall

It's 7:30 a.m. We get in the car, and I turn the key. My car chokes a little on the freezing air, but doesn't disappoint me. I blast the heat which, at this point, is like some arctic squall.

I'm just another commuter student, although perhaps with a slightly longer drive than most at about 40 minutes on a good day and an hour when there's any traffic. I live in my car a great deal; I know whenever someone adjusts my seat even a millimeter. What may be somewhat different about me is that I'm not a pure-blood Oxford student. My first two years were spent exclusively at the Hamilton campus.

Anyone from Miami might ask, why does that matter? The schools can't possibly be that different. The short answer is they aren't so different, but the long answer is not as clearly defined. Miami's satellite campus in Hamilton has no minimum GPA for entrance. Hamilton also has very small classes (in some of mine, there were only six students) and has the relatively small tuition of roughly $5,000 a semester. Also, everyone knows everyone. This intimate atmosphere owes quite a bit to its relatively small student body of 3,682.

These two campuses are clearly unique, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Yet, there is a great controversy amongst the student bodies of the campuses focusing on which campus is better.

This situation becomes painfully clear when one views the responses on The Miami Student website to the article "Task Force Fuels Campus Controversy." One such response read as follows: "You don't get a Mercedes when you buy a Camry. You shouldn't get a Miami degree if you didn't go to Miami. As the pressure builds on this situation, you will have more resentment of regional students by Oxford students, you will have more Oxford students taking "easier" regional course as above, and the confusion will further."

So, why do some student say this is the "Mercedes" of Miami University? Oxford is the red-brick, Georgian-architecture abode for some of the arguably brightest minds out there. As a full-time Oxford student, I've come to recognize the socially-agreed upon dress code. This particular way of dressing, of course, has numerous implications as far as outside perceptions.

Before I continue with what makes up the atmosphere of this campus, let me give you a few statistics about this main branch of the college. The student body is large, but not huge, at 17,472. It comes at a price tag of around $14,000 per year for tuition and fees for the in-state student, and about $30,000 for the complete package. The school offers an air of exclusivity, as the university admits around 67 percent of applicants. So, it is clear that this student body is, at least, somewhat select and somewhat privileged.

Class sizes in Oxford are not the same as Hamilton. Of course, the setting is somewhat less intimate. There is a big difference between six students in a classroom and 25. I, for one, have a couple classes where the professor is still unsure of my name. In addition to this, I find it rare that a student would strike up a conversation with another random student, which is an arguably common occurrence at Hamilton.

I recently had an insightful interview with a fellow student of both campuses, Rebecca Huff. She helped me see how Hamilton students view Oxford students, and vice versa. This is particularly important if we are to get a glimpse at the perceptions which may cause the behavioral and atmosphere-related differences of the campuses.

"We were kind of bashing Oxford, because we didn't know there was an Oxford student here," Huff said. "She raised her hand and said, 'Oh yeah, I go to Oxford.' She poked fun too, it was all good-natured."

This is a single example of the Hamilton feeling toward Oxford, mostly one of good-natured fun at what is perceived by many to be too uptight a campus. Yet, I also believe there is a grain of sincerity present.

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I then asked Huff if there was a difference in the atmospheres of the two campuses: "Hamilton, I feel, is more accepting. Like, I fit in...I don't have to worry about getting judged." Huff inevitably later referred to the unspoken dress code of Oxford.

Apart from clothes, what about the academics?

Isn't this what really defines the two campuses? I would say not. Let's not forget that, at least for the moment, all satellite campuses give the same diploma as the Oxford campus. They do not say: "Graduate of Miami Hamilton," they say "Graduate of Miami University."

The real difference, then, does not lie in the academics. It lies in the "atmospheres" and the behaviors present on these two campuses. Is this bad? No. Is this good? No. Are these the merely different shades of Miami? Yes.