Kevin GisiI talked myself out of writing this column three times before I told my editor I had to do it.
I told myself I knew involved students who, when asked, could answer questions about issues about campus. And I do.
But, that doesn’t change the fact that our campus needs more student involvement from more students or at least more encouragement from the administration if that’s what it takes for us to step up. After all, we pay thousands of dollars to attend UW-Eau Claire and that amount will continue to increase, as soon as next year.
By all rights, we should care. Technically, we’re paying for an opinion. But should is very different than what I see as the reality.
As the Student Senate beat reporter for The Spectator, I spend my Monday nights at Student Senate general meetings. And often, I’m the only student there, other than the senators and occasional appearances from student organizations and rare students.
This group makes decisions that affect our lives and our campus. But, life is busy. Maybe students have other things to attend to on Monday nights. And, it’s unfair of me to say that they aren’t being active constituents outside of meetings because I can’t prove that.
I hope I’m wrong.
Second, the university is undertaking a huge new project, also known as the Blugold Commitment. This project is going to raise our tuition, anywhere from $1,500 to $2500. So, if it passes, we’ll pay more so if it correlates properly, our input should go up, right? Probably not.
I know it’s a lot to take in and realize that it can be hard to follow. But as students, we’re involved with it, whether we like it or not. But, disappointment struck again when the chancellor, provost and other big players involved with the Commitment held a listening session for students in The Cabin a few weeks ago.
A fellow Spectator reporter covered the event, and came back to say that he had only seen student senators at the event. No surprise. I expected them to be there. But normal students? I had the same expectations, or blind hope, for their attendance.
No such luck. I hope that by some chance, the reporter missed a normal student who did attend. But, there have been other similar events to attend on campus that students have missed out on. For example, the focus groups for the student union design options. The architects went out of their way to hold multiple focus groups at convenient times and locations. The attendance for at least two was zero.
Then, there’s the Campus Climate survey, an initiative to measure perceptions of the climate at the university. This means that they’ll look at personal and group experiences at the university in order to address any issues.
To be effective, about 30 percent of students, faculty and staff need to take it. The university is putting students who take the survey into a drawing and offering prizes such as a Kindle, a iPod nano or new laptop and more.
I won’t lie. I would love a Kindle or especially, a new laptop. But forget about the prizes for a minute. This is an opportunity to tell the university what we think and to help improve people’s experiences here. This is an opportunity to do something good for our fellow and future students.
That should be our incentive, not a new prize. But the university seems to know people well – we need a really good reason to do something and the lure of a potential award. How embarrassing. And not just for us as students, but as a society.
All of this equals one question: why don’t we care more? There isn’t even a concrete answer to that question but there is a solution. It’s a personal decision – only a person can make themselves care. And, there are signs of that.
For example, look at the examples on campus of involvement:
We have hundreds of organizations on campus, who care enough about something to find others who care about something. With involvement comes unity, something that we all need a little more of.
Look at the Council Oak. We didn’t even know where it was before this year, but now, everyone seems to have something to say about its fate. Notable, right?
This. Isn’t. Good. Enough.
I don’t think students realize how powerful they can be. So, brief tutorial. Pay attention. Ask questions. Get informed.
That way, you won’t ever be as disappointed as I am right now.
