Boot ‘N’ Paddle: Let’s Talk About the O.C.

As I walked alongside my father touring St. Lawrence University, my mind was, to be frank, more or less disinterested. Here I was at another college campus, stuck in another crowd of peppy parents and their gotta-catch-‘em-all children making a grand tour of the colleges of the Northeast. This was stupid. I didn’t really care too much about why SLU was special, I just wanted to make my father glad I had considered his alma mater.

Then, the tour guide mentioned Peak Weekend, a few days in the fall when the Outing Club (OC) got hundreds of students on top of all 46 of the Adirondack High Peaks.

That, I remember thinking, was special. Not only was the student body so actively engaged in the outdoors, but the university supported it, ensuring no students were left out because of financial inability. That was something I could get behind.

About a year passed, and I found myself a student at SLU. It became apparent to me that the OC was another of those SLU things, like Sergi’s or Java shows that will always be in the corner of the student body’s eye. The second-oldest outing club in the country. Spring Break Trips.

Weekly Ski Excursions to Whiteface. I went to Titus, Tent Party and, of course, to Peak Weekend. As I became a trip leader, the OC continued to provide me with opportunity after opportunity, cementing itself a cornerstone of my SLU experience.

Over time, I learned that not everyone shared my love for the organization. When most people hear “OC,” the idea of “those assholes” is as likely to come to mind as “skiing” or “camping.” As the semesters ticked by, the voices of others and my own education began to show me the cracks in my home: “I don’t feel comfortable in the OC—there’s no people of color there.” “The OC has way too big of a budget, man. What do they even spend it on?” “The OC doesn’t respect anyone but themselves.” Words like these weren’t being thrown around just for the sake of seeing what they’d crash into; people felt this way for a reason.

I looked again to the place that had given me so many happy memories, but I removed my rose-colored glasses. The OC is an all-white organization. Up until recently, trip leaders were male by a near two-thirds majority. Incoherent emails were sent out at 2 a.m. before a 6 a.m. departure time the next day. Why were things like this?

I dug for answers. Some were satisfying—of the OC’s $80,000 budget, around $65,000 of it is for all-inclusive, campus-wide events like Titus or OC-Tober fest. Other answers, not so much. The OC is primarily white because, well, so is the majority of the outdoor community. SLU prides itself on its diversity. However, despite being home to a pantheon of exciting organizations like the Black Student Union, the Native American Student Alliance and La Casa, SLU often finds itself lacking in representation.

Members of groups like these face a harder day-to-day experience than myself in many things at SLU, and participating in the OC is no exception. For such a key part of the St. Lawrence experience, to be so exclusionary is unacceptable.

As stated before, I’m not the only one who has noticed this. I am certainly far from the first. Luckily, other trip leaders have noticed it, too, and the OC has begun to address these issues. Last semester, the Committee on Diversity and Inclusion was formed. Through the efforts of all parts of the St. Lawrence community, the OC has had the privilege of working with groups like the Islamic Culture Club, Men in Color and Carefree Black Girls.

When NASA brought to our attention the fact that the “sweat” trip to Birdsfoot farm was culturally appropriative, it was immediately suspended and discontinued. Currently, members of the club are involved in talks with the Thelmo Executive Board and concerned students on how to expand our reach and make our organization more inclusive.

This is not to say we’re done extending our reach or to pat ourselves on the back. Rather, this Boot ‘N’ Paddle is to say that we in the OC hear your concerns about our organization and we agree. To ensure our status as a relevant and just organization, it is important to listen to others and to continually strive for improvement.

It takes a remarkable amount of privilege to recreate in the outdoors, but SLU’s location and funds allow for many of those barriers to be removed. It’s up to the OC to help remove the rest of them. Whenever my dad comes to school, he always mentions how the OC needs a fresh coat of paint. The current one used to be good enough, but now it’s peeling, and you can see the old colors the house used to be presented in.

As someone who lives in the house, I know that it needs more than just a new coat of paint: even the foundations can be a little gross. However, the house is warm, sturdy and filled with smiling people who love the outdoors and want to share it. With this in mind, the Outing Club is not just going to get a paint job; it’s going to be a better home for all Laurentians.

Want to get on the OC listserv? Have any questions or comments about the OC in general? Feel free to email pceckh16@stlawu.edu.