Five years ago, when I received the first of a handful of acceptance letters from Missouri Southern, my dad pulled me aside and told me, “Son, this is something to be proud of.”

Well, that isn’t exactly what he said.  The alcoholism has given him a bit of a stutter.

But in different and often staggered words, my dad told me I should be proud to be going to college.  Now, after two years in the workforce and three in college, I’m looking back and realizing that this is just another thing in the long list of things my dad was wrong about.

File this somewhere between “I don’t have a problem” and “Rehab is for quitters.”

That’s right.  I’m not proud to go to college — not this one, at least.

I originally came here because I had to.  I got accepted to other colleges: Missouri University, Missouri State, hell I even got into Yale.

Okay, the last one is a stretch, but you get my point.  I got into a handful of bigger and better colleges.  So how did I wind up here?

Money.  Just like 90 percent of the rest of the student population on campus, I’m here because it’s a cheaper alternative.

The good news was, Southern is a good place to get some bang for your buck. I think everyone knows that Missouri Southern doesn’t compare to a lot of other schools in terms of education, but a college degree for the cost of a few years here is actually a pretty good deal.

Even still, I was proud to be a Lion just because it was something I needed to do.  It was an opportunity to get that degree at an affordable cost and maybe better myself over time.

Looking at it now, though, I don’t think I can consider myself proud anymore.

After being here a few years, I’ve seen more bickering and infighting on our campus than in our federal government.  It seems everyone hates everyone else within our administration, and it’s making our University a joke. 

Everyone bags on the president, and subsequently, he’s become suspicious of everyone.

Opportunities once openly afforded to students and used as selling points of the University are now seemingly like closely guarded secrets.

What happened?  This can’t all be blamed on [University President Bruce] Speck.  Maybe someone out there can answer this for me.

In the meantime, maybe the administration will pull its collective head out of its ass and do something about this.  Maybe they’ll make students proud to be Lions again.

After all, that’s what this is all about isn’t it?  Pride?