At the Torch we always value the input of our read­ers. So when we received a num­ber of Letters to the Editor last week, we were excited that there was so much feedback.

Obviously one of the more hot-button issues has been the role that Ferris stu­dents and the city of Big Rapids play within one another’s exis­tence. To me, this seems like a type of “chicken or the egg” situation.

A week ago we started a Torch poll on our Web site. “How would you rate the rela­tion­ship between the Ferris stu­dents and the Big Rapids com­mu­nity?” Of the responses, 90 per­cent said that the rela­tion­ship was “fair, poor or bad.” Only nine per­cent would describe the rela­tion­ship as “good.”

Obviously, this should be a concern.

This may just be an issue of Public Relations. Right or wrong, pad­lock­ing a student’s apart­ment doesn’t send a pos­i­tive wel­come mes­sage to other stu­dents. Neither does that stu­dent shoot­ing fire­works from his apart­ment in the mid­dle of the night.

There could be a desire to not con­form to the “col­lege town” stereo­type and par­ents may not be inter­ested in a school with a rep­u­ta­tion as a good place to party, but there has to be a mid­dle ground.

So I have some ques­tions, feel free to answer them on the Torch Web site, www​.fsu​torch​.com as a com­ment to this story.

What do you like about Big Rapids?

What don’t you like about Big Rapids?

What have you always wanted to do here, but haven’t?

When you leave Big Rapids for the week­end, where do you go?

What could you do, per­son­ally, to enjoy your time here more and what could oth­ers do? n