Editor’s Note: All opinion section content reflects the views of the individual author only and does not represent a stance taken by The Collegian or its editorial board.

When I was a first-year student at Colorado State University, commercialization felt like a luxury.

In the freshman universe of meal swipes, dining hall food, walking to class and a constant barrage of university bills, seeing something familiar — Coca-Cola products in the dining hall, lucrative name-brand snacks in the Rams Horn and Durrell Marketplaces, and consistent flavors of Lory Student Center food court meals — felt like a luxury, a simplicity, a call back to a time at home where food and drink were held to a high and trustable standard.

That was three years ago, and since then, campus robots, billboards and an explosion of campus commercialization have cheapened the lifestyle of our campus and community.

In October and November, the GrubHub campus robots — the same ones I’m desperately trying not to hit with my car — became outfitted with advertisements for the new “Five Nights at Freddy’s” movie and Coca-Cola holiday products. Around that same time, the campus billboards went up, advertising everything from Freddy’s in the food court to Northern Colorado holiday lights and other businesses.

Instead of achieving their purpose, inspiring me to buy movie tickets, event tickets and food every time I walk or drive past an outfitted robot or billboard, my general distaste for what happened to CSU’s campus continued to grow.

It suddenly felt like commercialization was being shoved down the throats of all 30,000 plus students — a significant portion of whom chose CSU in part for its environmental sustainability and access to Colorado nature. Where was that same commitment to local light pollution and campus nature when six new billboards suddenly besieged high-traffic areas around campus? Every time I spotted a new opportunity for advertising, I’d shudder and roll my eyes. It felt like a dirty trick.

“The existence of the campus billboards and robot advertising, if truly necessary, should be limited to student organization-led events and other pertinent information for students.”

As a business minor student, I understand the lucrative power of college-aged students as a marketing demographic. In the age of TikTok and social media, brands and businesses have been able to grow their reach by widely utilizing the college influencer demographic. At the University of Miami, luxury brands constantly set up giveaways and tables, searching for promotion from the school’s significant influencer population.

However wise that is for external corporations, CSU is not UMiami. We are a campus of squirrel-loving, hammocking, sometimes “granola” students who are usually humble, quiet and down-to-earth. We are a former agricultural school-turned Colorado powerhouse in subjects like veterinary medicine and engineering. We are not a flashy private school dripping with influencers who rake in six figures over TikTok videos.

While we still represent a significant marketing segment for company advertising, it is disingenuous to CSU’s campus identity to reach this community through massive billboards with advertisements that weasel money from our pockets.

I have not heard a single good thing from anyone in my circle about the billboards around campus. I can only say that it feels as if the constant push of commercialization and advertising has removed part of the Ram identity — almost as though the new selected school identity is one of constant spending, brand recognition and flashy lights.

Extreme advertising, especially by nonuniversity entities, is not how to reach our student population. It is simply something that feels like a cheap ploy. Students also do not need ads from CSU as an institution itself — we are at the school. The existence of the campus billboards and robot advertising, if truly necessary, should be limited to student organization-led events and other pertinent information for students. While that was a promised payoff of the development of these many large billboards, I have yet to see it.

Commercialization in college should be a luxury. We are all here to learn and obtain a degree, and while I have listened to the Fort Collins Area Chamber of Commerce talk for three and a half years about how CSU students act as an economic powerhouse for the region, that economic viability must represent the actual will and whim of the students — especially first-years, who already pay extreme amounts to sustain their education. It is, quite simply, not who I feel like we are as a population.

Reach Allie Seibel at letters@collegian.com or on social media at @allie_seibel_.