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As a faculty member who lives with his family in Lovejoy Commons, Associate Professor of Economics Michael Donihue '79 was amazed to see just how engaged, busy and committed Colby students are, both in the intellectual and social life on campus.
The observation made him curious. Colby students operate in high gear,
but are they happy? In 1995 The Princeton Review rated them the happiest
in the nation, but that ranking slipped in subsequent years and Colby
hasn't made Princeton Review's top-20 "happiest students" list for the
last two years.
Donihue decided to investigate. Last fall students in his Economics
393 launched the first "Colby Lifestyle Survey," and the second annual
poll was slated to begin this month.
"Basically I conclude that students are not the beer-drinking, irresponsible,
juvenile stereotypes sometimes portrayed in the media," Donihue said.
". . . While there is a lot of drinking and even some
problem drinking, it's not a rampant problem on campus. Students are
involved in a lot of good behavior and more studying leads to better
grades."
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The Findings
About 100 students were expected to complete the survey. Six hundred responded in the first week.
88 percent said they were either mostly happy or very happy with academic life at Colby and 78 percent said the same of social life.
60 percent of students spend at least an hour in the gym each week and 78 percent participate in at least one club.
11 percent claimed they watch more than 10 hours of television a week; 23 percent said they skip more than five classes in a semester.
18 percent of female students are vegetarian but only 4 percent of males are. Vegetarians are less likely to drink beer but more likely to smoke cigarettes.
Watching television, drinking beer and skipping classes all are hazardous to your grade point average. Studying results in higher GPAs. |
