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Where Is the Love? Students Eschew Campus Romance
The Wall Street Journal ^ | January 31, 2008 | SUE SHELLENBARGER

Posted on 02/04/2008 10:13:54 AM PST by forkinsocket

Like many campuses, Purdue University has some traditional hot spots for romance -- "The Old Pump," where couples used to meet after dark, and a bell tower known as a lucky place to propose marriage.

But engineering major Amy Penner has been so busy volunteering with a women's engineering group and planning her career that she's only dimly aware of them. Her boyfriend has left campus to get a doctorate overseas; asked how much time she spends dating, she says, "That would be zero."

Remember the movie "Love Story" and its star-crossed student lovers? Such torrid campus romances may be becoming a thing of the past. College life has become so competitive, and students so focused on careers, that many aren't looking for spouses anymore.

Replacing college as the top marital hunting ground is the office. Only 14% of people who are married or in a relationship say they met their partners in school or college, says a 2006 Harris Interactive study of 2,985 adults; 18% met at work. That's a reversal from 15 years ago, when 23% of married couples reported meeting in school or college and only 15% cited work, according to a 1992 study of 3,432 adults by the University of Chicago.

Gone are the days when sororities and dorms marked engagements with candle-passing ceremonies while men serenaded beneath the windows.

Even at tradition-steeped Transylvania University, a 228-year-old institution in Lexington, Ky., an old white ash called "The Kissing Tree," cited in 2003 by the Chronicle of Higher Education as one of the most romantic spots on campuses, is no longer an "icon of intimacy," says Richard Thompson, a longtime Transylvania professor and dean.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: campus; college; generationy; romance
.
1 posted on 02/04/2008 10:14:09 AM PST by forkinsocket
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To: forkinsocket

Transylvania University? Never heard of it.


2 posted on 02/04/2008 10:20:52 AM PST by Rennes Templar ("The future ain't what it used to be".........Yogi Berra)
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To: forkinsocket

Great news!


3 posted on 02/04/2008 10:27:53 AM PST by tlj18 (Romney is the only acceptable choice the remains... don't let McCain-Huckabee happen!!!)
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To: forkinsocket
Remember the movie "Love Story" and its star-crossed student lovers? Such torrid campus romances may be becoming a thing of the past. College life has become so competitive, and students so focused on careers, that many aren't looking for spouses anymore.

From what I've read, they are just 'hooking up' instead. I don't consider that to be an admirable trade off.

4 posted on 02/04/2008 10:44:20 AM PST by MEGoody (Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.)
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To: MEGoody

Hooking is the right word isn’t it, except they don’t get paid.


5 posted on 02/04/2008 10:48:45 AM PST by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: Moonman62

The smarter coeds do it for money, and don’t have to take out as many student loans as those who do it for free.


6 posted on 02/04/2008 10:49:46 AM PST by Clemenza (Ronald Reagan was a "Free Traitor", Like Me ;-))
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To: Clemenza

They should be dancers. The money is better and there’s less risk. In a classier club they can make over six figures and easily pay tuition.


7 posted on 02/04/2008 10:51:21 AM PST by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: forkinsocket

Didn’t Al Gore say the movie “Love Story” was about him? That it was a biography of his life, BEFORE he invented the Internet?


8 posted on 02/04/2008 10:53:07 AM PST by 2harddrive (...House a TOTAL Loss.....)
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To: Moonman62

Correct. It seems to be the most popular job for coeds at the University of Miami.


9 posted on 02/04/2008 10:54:11 AM PST by Clemenza (Ronald Reagan was a "Free Traitor", Like Me ;-))
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To: forkinsocket

my wife and i met a College Republicans / Young Republicans meeting


10 posted on 02/04/2008 10:54:28 AM PST by DM1
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To: forkinsocket

“The Old Pump,” ???...not just a play on words I assume?


11 posted on 02/04/2008 10:55:05 AM PST by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: forkinsocket

I met my wife at university.


12 posted on 02/04/2008 10:56:36 AM PST by IronKros (The pig put foot. Grunt. Foot in what? ketchup)
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To: forkinsocket

Advice for the young men:

The first time you marry, do it because of love... the second time, do it for money.

;_)


13 posted on 02/04/2008 12:00:07 PM PST by Loyal Buckeye
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To: 2harddrive

So...

“Tipper” is really a terminally ill expert on Mozart?


14 posted on 02/04/2008 12:15:47 PM PST by GadareneDemoniac
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To: Moonman62

I know. Gentlemen’s Clubs in College towns like Austin, Baton Rouge and Miami have traditionally supported many a coed through her degree.


15 posted on 02/04/2008 12:20:04 PM PST by CholeraJoe (Super What? How much longer until Nascar starts?)
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To: forkinsocket

I thought they just set up a 24/7 web cam in their room and charged a monthly membership fee to watch.


16 posted on 02/04/2008 1:02:56 PM PST by fso301
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