Action is a word that has disappeared from our vocabulary. While injustices occur to our student body and on campus, there are only a handful that battle for student rights and privileges. It is a constant struggle for these few because the student’s opinion is rarely taken seriously and our University continues to turn its back on the campus majority: the students.
While most of us have never met any of these leaders and in some cases never will, we hinge on their work, while thousands of students idly wait for leadership and direction.
Organizations such as Student Government struggle to represent the opinion of thousands and as a result continue to fail the student body. When they do, criticism rather than aid is their reward but without the support of the student body, their attempts will remain unsatisfactory.
Student Government should work with students rather than in isolation. Students lack the information that SG should be providing, though they are not solely to blame.
The student body has gone without general information on the politics occurring on campus for some time now and has not made an inquiry on this tragedy.
Of course there is a lesson that students should learn from the tailgating issues that have been prevalent on campus: if students demand changes then they should be willing to sacrifice their time and commitments to help improve our school.
It is our unfortunate habit to put our trust in leaders and officials, relying on them, rather than ourselves, to fight for causes deemed worthy. As individuals, we do only a fraction of what we actually could to help these leaders and the issues they face.
Instead of being represented by a handful of our peers, we have the potential to be led by every single student if you would devote yourself and an open ear to the causes at hand.
Every day we pass countless peers on our way to classes yet in our eyes they are strangers rather than fellow students. Our sense of community is imaginary at best and until we can eradicate this apathy and lack of community, students will remain uninformed and unheard. Campus apathy is a disease that causes a weakness in our community’s voice and the only way to stop this is by increasing your involvement with your fellow students, educating yourself on the issues on campus and getting involved.
To amend mistakes of the past, the student body should rally together, to stand as a group dedicated to campus issues and politics, while SG should deliver the information that so many students seek to become active. Through this unity we can achieve not only a greater sense of community, but with our strength in numbers we will no longer act like a stray dog in the streets, but a true Wolfpack
We have sat back and remained neutral for far too long. It is up to us to take up the fight and battle for changes that will affect every student who attends this University now and for years to come. The Civil Rights era left us with the work of amazing activists. Their work remains as a lasting example of how the actions of the unified and determined will stand above all else, and allow our voices to be heard.
