Article by Madeline Fredette
NEWBERG, Ore. – As autumn is underway, the crisp air and falling leaves can spark a desire for someone to share this time with, sometimes referred to as cuffing season. The Speed Dating event on Oct. 23 , hosted by George Fox University’s (GFU) Student Activities, was an opportunity for students to find their “someone.”
The evening was spent in Klages, tables decorated with white tablecloths and red roses with purple and red lights bathing the walls. Speed dating participants were served drinks and appetizers. Attendees were given black notebooks during the event to take notes on their interactions and write down ideas for ice breaker questions.
Being the most requested by students for Student Activities, Speed Dating was a new addition this year. Initial sign ups were flooded by a majority of women wanting to attend. However, after Student Activities closed the women’s sign ups and encouraged more men to sign up, the numbers, as of Oct. 21 had 50 women and 80 men on the register.
To mitigate this difference, men waited in the Foxhole to rotate upstairs. Men talked with between nine to 15 different women, each interaction averaging three and a half minutes.
Checking the Daily Bruin at 6 a.m. every morning, Jacques Armstrong was the first student to sign up for the Speed Dating event. “The worst case scenario is that there will be a dozen or twenty more people that I can say hi to,” said Armstrong. “And best case, I think you know.”
Armstrong has an overall positive view of the dating culture on campus, not being surprised if people at GFU do get married sooner on average. “At least in the circles that I'm in, people tend to date more intently, less for fun,” said Armstrong.
A majority of students had similar reasons for attending the event, to put themselves out there. Students felt this event would be a low stakes chance to “meet some people and practice my dating game,” as one GFU student said.
Some, however, had their hopes set high on finding the person for them. “I’ve always wanted to find the one for me, I came here in hopes of that experience,” said another attendee.
Though many may be interested in meeting a partner during college, some students find difficulty in meeting someone organically or entering a relationship. Students point towards Christian dating customs and campus culture as a source of difficulty.
“Within Christian dating culture, it's more accepted, as a woman, to have a guy pursue you,” said senior Isobel Espinor. “It's harder to go from interest into actual dating territory, it seems like there's a stigma in labeling it as ‘dating.’”
To Espinor, GFU houses two contradictory dating cultures on campus: ring-by-spring culture and also a lack of students initiating relationships or asking others on dates.
Speed dating participant Jayden Ancheta proposes that the college environment is not shaped for organically meeting someone. “There're no third spaces to meet anybody. You see people once… and then you never see them again, and they’re not in your classes,” said Ancheta.
Speed Dating, though crafted by Student Activities, offered students a third space which targeted those who were single and looking for a relationship. Following mocktail hour after Speed Dating, many students stood around still chatting, a few even exchanging phone numbers.
Many students found the event to be a great chance to meet new people. A few students believed the limited time talking to each person made it difficult to know them on a deeper level.
For some, the event served as a way to enter into the dating sphere in a low-stakes way. Sophomore Jonah Jepsen found that it improved his view of dating on campus, being glad he had done something “to try.”
Student views on this event were overall positive, and going forward students can search out more third spaces, focus on pursuing others and take Speed Dating as a way to be less intimidated by the intensity of dating culture.
