More than two-thirds of students attending Marshall University disappear after their final class of the day. Commuters, it seems, do what the word says — commute.

Many departments on campus claim they have tried to give these commuting students incentives to stick around after class, but are feeling frustrated with their attempts.

Steve Hensley, dean of student affairs, said there are very few events provided specifically for commuter students.

“I am concerned that commuting students may not be getting their money’s worth,” Hensley said. “For example, often times, commuting students will choose to use their family doctor rather than the prepaid student health facilities. I also became concerned that students did not come back to see things like speakers, bands and comedians through the activities board, but upon doing some research this year, we found out that they do come.”

Lee Tabor, coordinator of student activities, said it may seem like there are not specific events for commuters, but that is because Marshall tries to include commuters into the student body as a whole.

“People think that the students who do not live on campus are not involved, but that is not true,” Tabor said. “Calling students who do not live on campus, ‘commuters,’ alienates them from the rest of the students. But I do agree that special accommodations must be made at times for them to receive the full campus experience.”

Tabor said this year, more than ever before, Student Activities has tried to make events more accessible to commuting students.

“We understand that it is hard for a student with a 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. class schedule to leave and come back for certain events,” Tabor said. “That is why we have started adjusting times of the events. For example, the original time of comedian Tracey Ashley was 9 p.m., but we pushed for it to be moved to 5 p.m. so students would not have to go home and come back before the event.”

Tracey Eggleston, assistant director of housing and residence life, said several things the university provides have been successful—a “red-eye” study room, for example, or inclement weather rooms in residence halls (where storms prevent the commuter from returning safely and they stay overnight instead). This year, however, the university may not be able to offer those weather rooms.

“The rooms that we can use are based on vacancies,” Eggleston said. “And we do not have many of those this semester because of the international student population. The international students will be gone by Dec. 7, but that may not give us enough time to clean and turn the rooms around to be ready for new students.”

Tabor said he hopes the new incentives to encourage commuter students to attend events will work, as other efforts to involve such students have not been effective in the past.

Kelly Pate can be contacted at [email protected].