For my great-grandfather, who escaped communist Russia, people in the United States don’t know how good they have it. For him, the basic ability to speak or act is something to be thankful for. I reminisce of speaking out last year; I was that guy in the amphitheatre with the microphone. I started in an effort to get students involved – the speaking was designed to inspire action.
Unfortunately for the Survival Center, my plan did not work. I guess I should not have been so na’ve to think that students would actually start caring. After all, it’s not like we are spending exorbitant sums of money to learn and apply knowledge. Students can’t be expected to actually care about what their professors are expressing.
Gosh, the students at the University wouldn’t want to get the reputation that the University cares, so we are content to live in the image of the activist reputation of the ’60s. I know students are busy – I understand, I work full time, but there are hours of downtime. There are activist students who do a lot of good work, but they are a minority.
We, as students, pay an incidental fee to fund student programs… so why not use them? Why not go to a meeting, or participate in an event, or spread a message with chalk or flyers? Perhaps this year we can be a little more active and make use of those liberties my great-grandfather was so grateful for.
Cimmeron Gillespie
University student