2008 Woodie Awards
The Prez Reflects
Ethan Moore
Issue date: 4/14/06 Section: Opinion
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I think that it can safely be said that a majority of the Hendrix College student body falls into one of three categories: First, there are those students who do not care about student government. Second, there are those students who do not have a clue what student government does. Third, those who care to some degree what student government does. I have gone through all three of these stages and so I when the Profile asked me to write an op-ed piece I thought I might as well. Through my time as both a member of Senate and as a disgruntled malcontent (and there was overlap between these two) learned a few things.
The first thing I learned is that the first two categories I mentioned are pretty poor places to be. Student Government, despite all of its shortcomings, is a good thing. I find it interesting that for a campus that considers itself so active that so few people take an interest in what the school is up to. And by golly they are up to stuff. I also find it interesting that people tend to get all up in arms after the fact and for not very long. Over the past few years I have seen students hold protests, show up in droves to meetings, sign petitions, and everything else that one could possibly do in a pissed off fervor. There was the Shirttails debacle at the beginning of last school last year. There was the Dr. Gullielmetti incident at the end of last year. Then there was the door locks this year. Not to mention complaints about the cafeteria, mass emails, or the scandalous manner in which the administration handled Martin Hall earlier in the semester. But as with all things, they come to pass and they are forgotten.
The second thing that I have learned is that administration and faculty do not forget as easily as students do. They have the blessing and curse of time. They can wait out student complaints. A few years go by and it is a whole new crew. A group of students that will not remember parties in dorms, fun, or faculty being let go for suspicious reasons (at best).
The first thing I learned is that the first two categories I mentioned are pretty poor places to be. Student Government, despite all of its shortcomings, is a good thing. I find it interesting that for a campus that considers itself so active that so few people take an interest in what the school is up to. And by golly they are up to stuff. I also find it interesting that people tend to get all up in arms after the fact and for not very long. Over the past few years I have seen students hold protests, show up in droves to meetings, sign petitions, and everything else that one could possibly do in a pissed off fervor. There was the Shirttails debacle at the beginning of last school last year. There was the Dr. Gullielmetti incident at the end of last year. Then there was the door locks this year. Not to mention complaints about the cafeteria, mass emails, or the scandalous manner in which the administration handled Martin Hall earlier in the semester. But as with all things, they come to pass and they are forgotten.
The second thing that I have learned is that administration and faculty do not forget as easily as students do. They have the blessing and curse of time. They can wait out student complaints. A few years go by and it is a whole new crew. A group of students that will not remember parties in dorms, fun, or faculty being let go for suspicious reasons (at best).