The Mayor's Commission for Ball State Student Relations has the potential to knock out some bricks from the wall standing between the city of Muncie and Ball State University - but the Muncie community must be willing to put forth equal effort.
At its Friday meeting, the commission discussed bringing students off campus by moving some Late Nite events downtown, increasing freshman awareness of what downtown offers and creating a system for off-campus use of meal cards.
The commission has a long way to go if it intends to make these ideas realities. Still, such advancements would be worth the effort if they draw more students to downtown Muncie, rather than just the Village, for evening and weekend entertainment.
With these changes, Muncie could become more like a college town than just a town with a college in it. But part of that college town atmosphere is created by obvious cooperation between the school and the city.
Getting students out of their residence halls, apartments and houses can be difficult. Because of that, enacting the ideas of the commission will require tremendous cooperation among students, administrators, Muncie business leaders, Muncie political leaders, MITS officials and Muncie residents.
If the Mayor's commission can get Dining Services to agree to the meal card plan but cannot find off-campus businesses willing to participate, the system will flop. Likewise, if student-focused events occur downtown but are scheduled for times that MITS buses are not running, students might have trouble finding transportation to attend or return from the event.
It'd be great to have Late Nite and Downtown Development work together to create an End of Semester Jam to rival the End of Summer Jam. If the event offers free transportation and boasts performers that students care about, such an event would no doubt be a huge success. The trick is to plan the event around student schedules, student needs and student interests.
With the right priorities and open minds across the board, the commission could turn that brick wall into a bridge - and help make Muncie a bona fide college town.
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