We at The Daily Eastern News believe Prowl Weekend has too many events that new students are forced to attend.

College is a time for transitioning into “the real world”; however, freshmen and transfer students are sent to mandatory events instead of being able to settle in and explore the place they will be attending for the next however many years.

New students are given one day, Move-In Day, to get settled into a new chapter of their lives before they are thrown into a weekend of requirements, when just a few days to go to university-sponsored events and meet friends may better suit them.

The events can be overwhelming when students want to make sure they have everything they need before classes start and get settled into their new spaces. 

Students may be better served with some extra time and space to do what they need to do to be prepared for classes to start.

We at The Daily Eastern News believe that many of the mandatory events do little to prepare students for the years ahead of them at Eastern.

Some students may enjoy going to college meetings and introducing themselves to their future professors or attending Convocation to hear from President David Glassman or Mayor Brandon Combs about campus and Charleston, but no one should be forced to attend it when they may want to prepare for classes or explore their options on campus.

Students might meet their best friend for life at events like those, but for those who don’t do well in manufactured settings could be made uncomfortable and uninterested in attending future university-sponsored events after being required to attend other less important ones.

Eastern should consider changing the way they have set up Prowl Weekend for new students by looking into what students have to say.

They could send out surveys or even just ask around campus to see how students felt about their first weekend on campus.

Having the events isn’t the problem because some students are just wired to thrive at events where they’re thrown into interactions with several people at once. But to assume that it works for everyone would be a mistake.

Prowl Weekend has many fun events for students to attend, and with a little less structure those students may be able enjoy their first weekend more and be prepared for the year.