Out of 1,167 community colleges in the US, only 285, including Central Oregon Community College, offer residence halls. COCC also offers numerous sports grounds and covers nearly 10,000 square miles. It even has campuses in four cities. Given these unique circumstances, does COCC have a culture? The Broadside spoke with members of the COCC community in both Bend and Redmond to look into this further.
On the Bend campus, many people said yes, there is a culture. Interestingly, people answered yes without truly understanding what that is, first. The culture is apparently wide ranging, with many people expressing the sentiment that students at COCC are simply very nice and inclusive.
Luke Denton, a student living at Wickiup Hall at COCC, said, “The culture is multiple cultures…” due to the variety of people attending COCC. This is regarding not only different ages but racial and ethnic identities as well. However, in the culture it is clear there are many splits. Some people cited splits among major, program, or club. One student said there was a cultural divide between those who reside in Wickiup and those who live off campus. This difference was especially noticeable in the cafeteria.
Most people cited a distinct dorm culture. This culture deeply connects people. “Everybody knows everybody.” said Hope Guyton, an art major. This sentiment was echoed by others of the dorm life at Wickiup Hall as being inclusive, even more so than last year’s, this student said. Activities include ping-pong tournaments, pool tournaments, and so on. These events are not organized by the school, they are an organic response from the students to provide group activities. Kennedy May, a Community Assistant at Wikiup Hall, explained, “Everybody gathers at the end of the night,” to take part in these events or otherwise socially gather. May is able to observe the chemistry take place and said to witness it is,”Just a nice feeling.”
However, this inclusive culture is not always apparent. Madison Mccormick, a work-study student, cited numerous negative instances of culture clashes; an upsurge in political graffiti, especially during and immediately after the 2024 election. In addition, an unofficial, unpoliced COCC Snapchat enables people to proclaim what they could only describe as, “Anti-woke.” This is between friends, family, and even coworkers. Mccormick went on to explain that due to the complicated political state of Central Oregon this is often where these proliferate. Jacob Fox, a student also staying in Wikiup Hall, had not only asserted that there wasn’t an official culture, but also that the culture of “being nice” at COCC is often policed with an unspoken but enforced code of ethics to adhere to.
Ruth Vernotico, 2SLGBTQIA+ program coordinator at COCC in Bend, said that yes there is a culture at COCCand it is constantly being contributed to. They expressed that COCC’s culture is education driven.
“That’s kind of the goal, right?” said Vernotico.
Vernotico expounded further, of COCC pertaining to true academia, that this ideal permeates throughout all of the institution and supersedes personal beliefs. Vernotico also emphasized COCC’s inclusivity and open doors to all, which aligns with what students said.
Though there was much overlap in terms of answers regarding culture at COCC, the culture itself remains largely hard to define.
The Redmond campus yielded similar results. Students said that culture was class by class basis, with different courses having unique cultures exclusive to them. Moreover, the culture at the Redmond COCC campus is much more straightforward, “get in and get out.” This is intensified by the lack of student life, cafeteria, and generally students having no more than two classes.
Mariah Guiterrez, pre-nursing major, explained how not only COCC but Central Oregon in general lacks an ethnic culture, and that the COCC Redmond culture is very much the city of Redmond culture. She noted many cliques in different classes, specifically with what she had described as “mean girls.” Some students made similar comments about Bend..
Guiterrez also cited a lot of promotional content regarding formal events. “Maybe if there was better promotion of the events than just flyers it might attract more people,” this too, affects both the reception at events and adding to the feeling of a general lack of culture.
However, another student, Hope Wright ,majoring in business administration, responded with an affirmative, “oh definitely,” when asked about culture, explaining her continuously smooth relations with both classmates and professors.
Part of the almost clinical feel of the Redmond campus was initially attributed to age, the hypothesis being that students attending the Bend campus trended younger and the inverse was true for Redmond. But according to COCC attendance statistics, students 19 and younger are the most prevalent in both campuses.
Though there is much discourse on what culture means at COCC, many students agree that there is one. In truth, culture means something different to each individual.
