By Joanna Selva Kumar
On Feb. 9, Benjamin Herb, the director of student life at The Master’s University (TMU), shared his thoughts on the replacement of Disney Day. The tradition was canceled as Disney’s convictions went against the school’s conscience, sparking a follow-up discussion on this decision and the future of campus events.
“I got here just after Truth and Life. At that point, it was less than four weeks before the originally planned date for Disney Day, and that was too short of notice to do a full-fledged replacement,” Herb said. “So, the strategy we have this year is we’re trying to put more in other events. We are trying to make Monty’s a little better, little less expensive.”
While acknowledging the absence of a direct replacement this year, Herb emphasized the importance of data gathering and the exploration of new ideas for future events.
“So, there’s no direct replacement this year. It’s canceled for this year, but we’re in the process of gathering data and that’s why we did the poll,” Herb said. “We’re looking at what students are interested in.”
In this way, future events will better reflect student preferences and aspirations.
Despite the absence of Disney Day, student life is committed to offering new and exciting campus-wide events. Herb highlights student life’s efforts to plan events such as a Super Smash Bros tournament, the GSAC tournament, Monty’s and club rushes, all while recognizing the importance of managing expectations.
“We’re not necessarily trying to replace it one-for-one; Disney Day is hard to replace. It’s unique and fun in a lot of ways. There’s a history of tradition there. You can’t replace a decade’s history, but you can do cool campus-wide events that students enjoy. And that’s what we’re hoping to do,” Herb said.
The TMU Mane 