Eastern’s freshmen applications for next year are up. But why? It can’t have anything to do with the City of Charleston.

In the past year the city hasn’t done a single thing to attract customers to its biggest business, Eastern Illinois University.

The reason Eastern is attracting new customers may lay in the campus tours, and specifically the fact those tours don’t leave campus. Potential students get to see all the good things this campus has to offer like 24-hour computer labs, small class sizes and eventually a new food court and library.

The campus tours don’t reveal a struggling local economy. They don’t show bar regulations that are some of the most stringent among Illinois’ college towns, and as long as the campus water fountains are avoided, there’s no proof that Charleston has its own brand of H20 with a unique taste.

Charleston has not extended any new social or economic reasons for students to not only come here, but also to stay here and spend money.

The new Wal-Mart simply replaced a smaller one that was closer to campus, and in doing so, it managed to bring other businesses, such as Maurice’s, further away from students.

The local bowling alley, often a staple of small-town life, couldn’t survive here in Charleston. Neither could Hardee’s or Long John Silvers. Neither of those properties, both of which are within blocks of campus, have acquired new inhabitants. In addition, the building that hosts Bike and Hike, is for sale.

I’m certainly not a senior in high school but empty buildings don’t exactly inspire me to learn the Eastern fight song.

The only positive change recently occurring in the city but outside of campus would be the opening of Boxa. As far as I can remember, high schoolers do have an affinity for pizza and grinders.

And of course, as long as the current city government is in charge, alcohol will be an issue. OK, so maybe those high school seniors remember what their guidance counselors told them. Alcohol and especially binge drinking are wrong, unhealthy and simply evil, so they shouldn’t be evaluating colleges based on liquor laws.

They should look for other forms of entertainment, right? Well, they won’t find many options outside Eastern’s campus. There’s a theater and a movie theater uptown and a roller rink in Mattoon. Just about every other structured activity in this town takes place in a tavern.

However, such tavern activities must take place before 1 a.m., when the said establishments close for the evening. The City Council has discussed extending those hours, but such discussions only transpire when students are away on break, lest they storm city hall. Who knows, they might. There’s not a whole lot to do in Charleston on a Tuesday night.

The city did change the bar regulations for Sundays, but that move was simply the least disruptive of many alcohol-related evils.

Before the law changed, bars that served food could be open on Sundays by purchasing a $400 license. Being that there are 52 Sunday’s in a year, that license cost vendors less than $8 a week. The regulation change was simply a concession to establishments that sell liquor but not food.

While upperclassmen clamor for longer bar hours, who knows how many freshmen come to Eastern unaware other college towns would gladly invite them into their bars. Western Illinois University, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and the University of Illinois all are located in towns that allow 19-year-olds into their watering holes.

It’s unfortunate that Charleston doesn’t do the same especially since the town has so few entertainment options that don’t occur in taverns. The prevailing thought must be once minors get into the bars, they will, gasp, drink alcohol.

While alcohol may be evil, one could argue it’s the strict alcohol regulations which are causing the ghosts in Charleston. Once those high school seniors enroll in Eastern, it’s only a matter of time before they wander off campus and realize there isn’t a whole lot to do.

And by Labor Day, most new students have figured out they can take their and their parents’ money elsewhere, which is why Eastern gives high school students campus, not city tours.