In what many students refer to as the ""coastie"" infested College Library, there are many interesting messages inscribed on the men's room walls. While I once lightheartedly laughed at written quarrels between lifelong Madison residents and Chicago natives, my mood quickly turned to anger when I read the statement, ""Thanks to coasties, my tuition stays low.""
Aside from the cold-heartedness displayed by this moron when discussing the extremely high tuition paid by all out-of-staters—which creates financial hardship for many students, not just coasties—he fails to recognize the advantage this plethora of coasties provides for him as well. While my maturity got the best of me in this situation, I felt like writing underneath this shameful, uneducated statement, ""Coasties are the reason this university is becoming nationally recognized.""
I am by no means directing more or less credit to students from certain geographical backgrounds. All students on this campus should be inestimably proud of the accomplishments that landed them on this campus. I am not saying Midwesterners have less of an impact on the growingly positive standing of UW-Madison. My point is, with students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries, this school is becoming nationally and globally recognized. Our advancements in stem cell technology is just one example.
This is a beautiful thing, for the whole experience of college should be meeting people from all over the country, if not the world, and UW-Madison, over the years, has become a place to get such an experience.
Being from ""the coast"" myself, the ""Garbage State"" nonetheless, I often hear the ""coastie"" stereotype uttered by many of my friends, most of whom hail from the Midwest. After all, few people even refer to me by my real name anymore, as I am infamously called ""Jersey"" in pure correlation to my geography.
However, many students still have it in for coasties despite the positives they bring to this university. Maybe it is their accents. Maybe it is their swagger or their style. Possibly, it is due to their invasions of places such as College Library, Madison Avenue and 420 W. Gorham St.
It could be the fear that coasties undermine the Midwestern culture formerly pervasive throughout this university. Perhaps it is the fact that as one leaves The Red Shed, he can look ahead and see floods of them exiting and entering Towers and Statesider, talking on their cell phones a mile a minute.
OK, so maybe, in general, it does seem like these obnoxious, stuck-up, phony out-of-staters are taking over Madison, morphing it from what was at one time a campus of originality and benevolence into one consisting of superficiality and materialism. But what students fail to realize is that this exodus of East and West coasters to the academically and socially vibrant UW-Madison is the best thing to happen to its already sky-rocketing reputation.
Coasties are not ""taking over,"" as is the threatening verb used by worrisome students. UW-Madison, being a state school, is required by law to admit at least 60 percent of its students from in-state. Although it is true the rest of the student population is generally from out of state, many of whom come from either coast, this is nothing to be appalled about, for it can mean only one thing: a more widespread, well-known reputation.
The increasing number of ""coasties,"" combined with a growing number of international students, makes the sky the limit for how well-known this prestigious university can become.
While UW-Madison, according to U.S. News and World Report, ranks No. 34 among national universities, the increasing geographical diversity of this highly intelligent student body is only something to be proud of.
While the UGG boots, overly large sunglasses, popped collars and baseball caps cocked to the side may bother many Midwesterners, the nationally recognized education they receive should be enough to offset this irritating difference in style and personality.
