Seats at academic readings, drama productions, and classical concerts are taken more by faculty than by students.
Why the apparent student apathy? President Baird Tipson said that he is "surprised that students on the whole are not more conscientious about supporting fellow students on the playing field, in drama productions, and in musical performances."
He thought that a reason might be that "many students are involved in a number of out-of-class activities, which limits the time they might have to attend other events."
But he also believes that "many of the events [college administration] might wish students to take more interest in are perceived by them as belonging to the culture of their parents and not something they would participate in voluntarily."
But why was the number of students at the Gym Class Heroes concert and Spirit Week so far below expectations?
When asked his view on why only 400 of the 1,000 expected students came to see Gym Class Heroes on stage, Chip Hiden, President of the Student Events Board, admitted that he "is still confused about the matter himself."
According to Hiden, a lack of advertisement cannot be the cause, since the Student Events Board "put posters and flyers everywhere on campus, went to different colleges in Maryland and advertised on four different radio shows."
He said that the reasons for the low attendance are still unclear to him, but he thinks that it "could have been a problem that the concert was scheduled on a Sunday night and that many students probably went home for the weekend or had schoolwork to do."
He also added that "people at college are always very picky about the music they like and it is thus hard to find an act that fits the interest of the majority of students."
The attempt to have WC's first Spirit Week also showed students' lack of spirit in an even more dramatic way.
There were hardly any students who dressed according to the daily themes. After the first two days, even students who started out with spirit had apparently lost it after being the only ones attending class in pajamas.
Hiden said that the lack of interest in Spirit Week was even more confusing to him, because "Spirit Week works well as a yearly tradition at other colleges."
He added that since many students know Spirit Week as a tradition in high school, he had expected them to look forward to having a Spirit Week at college.
Spirit Week was just another example for Hiden that "life at WC is shaped by separatism and people seldom come together for anything else than drinking."
According to Hiden, "it is most times freshmen and international students who come to on-campus events. After students have studied at WC for some time, they lose their interest in on-campus activities."
The Student Events Board is trying to make future activities more attractive to a greater number of students.
Part of their plan is not only to "try spirit week again next year," said Hiden, but also to make changes with regard to the yearly concert.
According to Hiden, "there will rather be a comedy week or a 'fun in the sun'-event than one big act on stage."
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