General College Green

 Rules: 

• Don't be too loud *

• Don't crowd the space *

• No vandalism 

• Respect greenery

• Respect personal boundaries 

• Clean after pets 

• No smoking *

• Shouldn't but can; institutional vs.social

• Don't litter 

• Wear a mask when area is crowded 

• With no more than one or two friends

• Say Hi i to friends that you pass

• Put out a picnic blanket to sit, eat, do homework

• For staff, students and alumni

* After Dark rules:

• Be loud

• Group together

• If you're alone you are more aware than the day time 

• Eat anywhere

• Women shouldn’t walk alone

• Too open 

• Smoking is more normalized at night

  
  

  Discussion

  
  

  The rules that exist for the physical space of college green have the purpose of protecting the area that all the people visiting use. There is a socially created rulebook that exists for College Green and the spaces it encompasses that most students, faculty and visitors of the university are subconsciously aware of. These rules come from our desire to respect the university and one of the largest green spaces that we use at the university. We are not supposed to disturb the greenery, vandalize, and litter because it will take away from the general common area for everyone. The rules pertaining to social interactions within college green are subconsciously performed so as not to draw attention to oneself, such as yelling and congregating in bigger groups so that you don’t disturb the other people who are also passing through or gathering in college green. This feels like a safe space to congregate with your friends in the grass to study, eat or chat on a picnic blanket, you also feel encouraged and free to say hi to people that you know when you pass them.

  There also is a different set of rules for college green when people use this space once it becomes nighttime. When during the day people usually walk alone or in small groups of two or three, much larger groups are normal at night as people are walking back to their dorms or uptown. In Social Construction of Gender, Judith Lorber discusses how saying  “that sex, sexuality and gender are all socially constructed is not to minimize their social power. These categorical imperatives govern our lives in the  new profound and pervasive ways, through the social experiences and social practices of what Dorothy Smith calls the "everyday/evernight world” (161). As a woman, you feel safe during the day on college green but at night it feels unsafe to walk alone in the dark. If you are walking alone you usually are walking with a purpose making sure to be aware of your surroundings. The way we use this space at night is different in terms of what we are allowed to do. For example, people can bring food along on their walks on college green and stop to eat anywhere and while smoking is discouraged, it feels less taboo at night. 

  College green is one of the most important places to students on our campus because everyone feels involved in the space and it marks your beginning and end of your time at Ohio University. By just being on college green, you feel like a college student as you are surrounded by campus and everyone who is involved in it. College green is one of the most important places so many people who want to spread a message to Ohio University come to college green to do it. All students and faculty feel a connection to the space on college green, so when people like Martin Luther King Jr or Lyndon B Johnson came to Ohio University, college green was the best place for them to get their message across. These people use peoples’ connection to college college green as a place of social change. Since everyone feels connected to the space they also feel a connection to the message being conveyed. The theme of togetherness and congregation that exists on college green through the actions and rules of participants can be applied to the broader theme of colleges as places of social change. The rules of college green and the subsequent environment that is created there makes it a place of general message-spreading which is discussed above. It is inferred that there are similar places like this on other college campuses across the country; that have similar rules to the ones we experience on college green. Thus a lot of campuses have places that are conducive to creating messaging and social change.
  
  
  
  

  
  

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