Elizabeth Sanford's Interview

The ethnography project that I am working on focuses on the “Goucher Bubble.”  I would define the “Goucher Bubble” as the seclusion of Goucher students from the rest of the world. In order to find out what students think about Goucher’s seclusion, I interviewed one student. My interview subject is an eighteen-year-old male. He is a freshman at Goucher and this is his second semester. He lives in Stimson Wagner and is a part of the swim team. He is unsure of his major so far, but is considering communications.

The most surprising aspect of this interview was that the subject had never heard of the term the “Goucher Bubble.” Before conducting the interview, I had considered this term fairly widespread. I thought that it was a well-known issue that Goucher students frequently closed themselves off from the rest of the world since the campus is closed off and so small. However, he discussed some other advantages of being a part of such a small community. For example, he said that being in a small community, information is spread easily. This is not good in terms of gossip, because personal information is shared quickly. However, it is helpful in terms of sharing global or local issues. He said that “you hear about things that are going on back home or in the rest of the world.” He did not feel secluded from global or local issues since there are also means of communication through cell phones and the internet.

Another issue that we discussed was discovering Goucher compared to other schools. He told me that one of his friends from home told him about Goucher College. Though Goucher is not well known around the world, it is fairly well known throughout the country. I think that the fact that people are aware of its existence in some way, even though it is such a small community, proves that it is actually a part of the world. It is not quite as secluded as it may feel when you are on campus. Also, the study abroad requirement speaks for Goucher as well. It requires an opportunity for students to study “beyond the bubble,” and immerse themselves into a totally separate part of the world. “When you are a part of Goucher,” he told me, “you are a part of the whole world. I’m excited to study abroad because it will give me what I can’t fully get here out of my education.”

Being a part of the global community is very important, however what I think that a lot of Goucher students are lacking is being a part of the local community. My subject noted that he has only gone into Baltimore with his friends one time since coming to Goucher. That was in order to celebrate the SuperBowl. Other than that he has only been when his parents came to visit. A major factor about this is transportation. He stated that he “would definitely go out more” if he had his own car. “The public transportation is just too hard to manipulate most of the time, plus sometimes the buses don’t even show up. Unless you are going for a general outing they are pretty much useless for any sort of timed plans.” It is hard for students to be a part of the Baltimore community if they are never there to begin with.  My subject also admitted that he did not go out into the Towson community unless he needed to go shopping for groceries or food. He does not participate in any sort of activities outside of the Goucher community. I would not be surprised if this were true among the majority of Goucher students.