COLUMN: Student voice a powerful but neglected source of change
CMU has seen a multitude of challenges, changes and adversity over the last semester.
As Voices Editor, I have been opining as buildings were constructed, sports teams floundered and revelations about the current university president and about his predecessor were made. I have been told, both directly and indirectly by the people I write for and about, that my voice makes a difference.
As I leave this position, I want to make clear that my voice, my opinion, is nothing compared to that of the students.
The columns and editorials I have written may be able to cause a stir, get people angry or worried or even cause some change, but that is nothing compared to when a group of students decides they are unhappy and change is needed.
Sure enough, the students of this university have plenty to be unhappy with. Tuition has risen dramatically as that money is siphoned into the College of Medicine and myriad building projects, the university is accepting more students than they have room to house and benefits and services to the students are cut to the point where even paper is rationed.
The students are the most powerful entity on this campus. The students, as both the majority population of this microcosm we call a university and its primary source of income, have more potential for impact and change on this campus than anybody else.
The reason the board of trustees is able to shape the university to their personal interests, and why the university is allowed to prioritize profit over quality of education is student apathy. Take money from us that we will be paying off for 40 years and spend it however you please, as long as we get to see Ke$ha, we say.
I am not suggesting the necessity of a widespread student uprising or riot, not in the least.
CMU is where we, as students, live, learn, work, spend, shape our futures and the futures of those around us.
What happens at this university, from the boardroom where the trustees meet, to the president’s office, to the student activities in residence halls and the Facilities Management staff that cleans up after them, affects every single student. This is our life, and none of it is unimportant.
All I am saying, all I am asking, is to care.
Read about what happens in this community — and not just in this paper. Read what the university sends out, what comes from students and community members and concerned parties. Think critically and intelligently about all of it and come to your own conclusions.
Become involved in causes that are of interest as a free-thinking and informed individual. When something happens and it just is not right, speak up. If ignored, speak up louder.
Student empathy and student involvement, more than any medical school, football team, classroom building or event center, is what this university desperately needs, and what could lift it up into greatness.
