Willamette University is pathetic excuse of a university. Curriculars, exclusive. Support, lacking. Finance, mute. It’s main motive, money. Its apathetic motto-Not unto ourselves alone are we born- is better read as unto ourselves we are born to conquer. Defaced as pretentious exclusivity and misjudged for virtuous care to others, I would not recommend attending this university. I’ll relate my experience for you to be the judge. The purpose being so that you may make the best choice of post-secondary education.... Read More I came to “the school that shall not be named” as an overachiever. To give you an idea, I graduated from high school with a 3.8 GPA(all honors and AP), superb violinist, active church member, and the only scholar to complete two research projects at a renowned IVY league institution, but my only deficiency was being born to parents whose ignorance of a 529 saving plan stemmed from the poverty ridden streets of Mexico. After working three(sometimes four jobs) to finance my associates degree at Chemeketa and OSU, I finally had saved enough to earn a quality education. As a foreshadowing of the institution's ineptitude, and when the time has come to apply, I receive no red berry “Jam”. This was a time when the institution would give jam to newly admitted victims—I mean, indoctrinates. After calling, they told me they hadn’t confirmed my acceptance. I don’t remember if I did, but I’m pretty sure I had given my familiarity with previous acceptance letter confirmation process. I came to orientation professional as always with black pants and a pink shirt and the first comment I get when I enter the room is something along the lines of “don’t you think you overdressed”. “Don’t you think your underdressed”, would have been my response, “because you are attending a prestigious university that should not be taken in vain”. This is the same classmate I would have further one-on-on “discussions” in class. At the end of the day, I didn’t let it bother me since I love this type of conflict—it’s a sort of motivating drug. Yet again, I recognize, although she served as an ambassador for the school, she was not an accurate representation of the institution, so I walked on. Next-up, meeting my advisor. Her lack of experience clearly was confirmed when she told me it was her first year and that she was doing research as a professor. Red flag number two. If you have advisors who lacks experience, kindly request a change—Especially if you are transfer student. You may be missing important bits of information like scholarship and help options. As a transfer student, I felt more prepared than anyone to take on the challenges of this renowned institution given my well-rounded scholastics. But, I was not told, like anything in life, that “the school that shall not be named” purposefully assigns lots of reading to fail you. Let me clarify and reword, they purposefully give you many reading for you to excercise discrimination, learn prioritization, and ask for help. Finally, orientation conclusions. This was the part where they play a video and tell you about college life and how to respond when someone says no to sex. I knew what I was getting into because the group leader(the same girl from orientation who turned out to be our group leader) had warned us, and since OSU played something similar to us. Except this time it wasn’t a “Tea” video, but a play with student portraying the act of sex under the covers(like we don’t see that in movies). During the after discussion, I said something to the effect that I believed the play exacerbated a liberal mindset that our college culture should not emulate since sex before marriage is not okay. The group leader, after some thought, became defensive, as expected, and eloquently defended her position. I don’t remember what I argued, but the effect was that a group member began to cry because she lived in a conservative State where she constantly felt discriminated. I found this pathetic, but I could resonate with her because I myself have felt discriminated for being “too white” when I am a person of color whose loves that I have culture and whose identity lies not in race but faith in Jesus Christ(yet, I did not mention this to the group because I knew my main message would not be heard). Some student at this institution, like me have been shelters all their life, but some have been hurt for their liberal beliefs and feel that it’s okay to disparage on others through eloquence of speech who do not have the same eloquence(and I’m sure it runs on both sides of the political spectrum). I tried to get involved in speech and debate, but I received no response and so was extremely disappointed but relieved. Relieved because I had been told their leader was like Lotso the bear from Toys Story—a despotic dictator who judged your appearance and status without remorse for whatever reason that may be. Disappointed, because, again, I love being in challenging places where I can practice virtue, grace, and the pursuit of truth. I can’t write every instance of diminishing recourse, but one notable one was a discussion in class over global warming. I made the point that although global warming is evident and indisputably true, it would also make sense that the more C02 is produced, the more the earth absorves , and the more green is produced. I made this point to suggest that we should question what we think is true. Isn’t that part of the purpose of college? To create critical thinkers? Wrong I was. Wrong was I. The professor asked: “how many people think global warming is true?” Everyone raised their hand except me because I was in shock that he missed my point. Afterward, some commentary was made that was directed towards my comment. The entire class laughed in mockery. When I was placed on academic probation, the “helper” did not present herself. I missed an important lesson in class that day. I had to take initiative and request that she present herself. I regret to say that I rudely told her: “I’m paying how much money for you not to show up?” I sought help but was directed to a student who only met one class need—not the others. Again, I learnd that no one will tell you were the resources are—not even your advisor. We are paying way to much money to not be told these not so implied important pieces of information. You have to seek them but by the time I learned this lesson, it was too late. I was expelled. After I was expelled, and for good reason, my gift from Willamette was student loan debt and a one credit deficiency to earning a minor that could not be earned(because “the school that shall not be named” does not offer minors without a major). Like a bad break-up, I walked on. It is no wonder why the institution is constantly faced with bad press, demarked with lawsuits, and foreseeable additional suicides. Let the count begin. The best short comments that summarize the institution best are the following: There are many things to love about Willamette's professors and community, but they do not change the fact that the university does NOT care about it's students. In a pandemic, they raised tuition and cut scholarships, while gaslighting students and working families about what they truly need. They care only about money, the trustees, and the alumni (only so that they can keep asking for money the moment we graduate). Especially if you are a person of color or low-income, this environment is not safe for you, as the administration routinely ignores and conceals student appeals for holding racist students accountable. They only take action when it's a mass movement of students and then assign committees that they know will be forgotten about once the students in leadership graduate. Unless their horrible record doesn't bother you, don't give any more money to them." Unnecessarily expensive due to the addition of unneeded administrative positions. Lacking practical application of knowledge taught. Not effectively utilizing school partnerships that are establish(they have a financial engineering program with Columbia University that no one told me about until senior year when I was no longer eligible). The university prides itself on diversity of race/gender/sexual orientation but not thought.” Solution: You can’t criticize without a solution. What the institution should do, since it can’t change the humility of its students nor the receptivity of the administration, it should: 1)create a place for transfer student to commune and seek helpful resources, 2)Tell advisors that if they can’t handle being teachers, doing research, and their life to NOT be advisors. 3)Create a “how to succeed” at this school list and/or list of resources to go for help, 4)Formulize a process for receiving and dealing with complaints, 5)Manage financial investment more wisely(stewardship). Aka. No unnecessary buildings. And perhaps, just maybe, students will have enough gratitude to donate.
Read Less 
