Written by Sammi Bjelland
The bell tower, swings and every function a student attends could mean the beginning of the rest of their lives.
This is the mentality of several students on Harding University’s campus. The pressure to get married is constantly ringing with every gong of the old bell tower. The little reminders of what is seemingly expected of students’ love lives have many feeling stress beyond the classroom.
The major trademarks of Harding all have a connection to the “marriage factory” somehow. A few of the big ones are:
- Three swings on the classic white swings mean an engagement ring is coming soon.
- Walking under the bell tower with someone means you are destined to marry them, or going solo could mean a lifetime of loneliness.
- Two functions with the same person gives people the assumption you are in a serious relationship with the person.
Although this is not everyone’s mindset, it does seem to be a popular viewpoint of faculty members. However not everyone believes it comes from the university itself.
“There is such thing, but I don’t think it comes from Harding. I think it comes from people in individual lives who tell them you’re going to go to college and you’re going to meet the person of your dreams,” said Andrew Baker, Director of the Institute for Church and Family.
The source of where the pressure comes from may be unclear; however it is present for many and affects the lives of those who become consumed by it.
“I know a lot of people getting married, and…I don’t know if it’s the right thing,” said senior nursing major Sam Strange.
According to recent studies done by the Centers for Disease Control, people married at 25 years or younger are two to three times more likely to get divorced. However the myth that this is more common in Harding graduates is not true according to research done by Bible professor Flavil Yeakley.
In anarticlewritten by Yeakley, he states that at 11 Christian colleges and universities, more than 2,000 alumni responded to a survey. Only 6.9 percent of the alumni who had ever married got divorced.
Although it is reassuring to know that not all marriages from Harding are doomed, the pressure still lingers to find that special someone especially soon. However Baker does not believe this should always be the case.”Some people are going to meet that person and seem people are not, and that’s ok,” said Baker.
