After three years at Conn, I find myself getting frustrated over the same thing every day. This campus is painfully apathetic, and this apathy breeds ignorance that was exhibited in the Voice last week. In the opinion piece titled “SW6385: Dover White”, Lilah Raptopoulos remarked that she “hope[s] that [SGA public relations and the deans] begin to use that authority to do their job: clearly informing the student body of changed made on our campus and the reasons behind them.” I am curious if she read the email sent out weeks ago by SGA President Peter Friedrichs describing in detail changes that were presented to SGA by administrators at the beginning of the year. I also remember multiple emails from Dean Briddell’s office about swine flu updates, and others with Campus Safety Director Stew Smith informing us about the arrest of a perverted man spying on females in Cro.
Proclaiming that SGA is not doing their job is a ludicrous assertion, but at the same time is an understandable one. The vast majority of the student body has no idea what their senators, class presidents and SGA executive board members do on a daily basis because they do not care to get informed. It is easy to complain and criticize about something you choose not to become educated about.
I am not trying to defend inaction. I am begging you to act on your own accord to be a part of Conn’s system of shared governance. SGA meets every Thursday at 7:15 and spends as much time as necessary listening to problems and concerns of the general student body. Many Thursdays this “student open forum” does not happen because students are too busy preparing for that evening’s festivities. That is your own choice and I am not going to tell you to go to SGA every Thursday (because trust me, it sucks sometimes). If you have serious issues you would like addressed, however, take ten minutes before your pre-gaming commences to come and ask some questions.
But before you proselytize about SGA’s failures, have a conversation and get educated. The men and women on SGA truly care about enhancing the overall student experience at Conn, yet they are hardly ever shown any appreciation. Writing articles for this newspaper is an easy way to throw rocks at an establishment that most students know very little about. At the beginning of the piece, Ms. Raptopoulos writes that “[i]f this dual communication can be achieved, we’ll be that much closer to attaining a real dialogue.” I could not agree more. But SGA, the faculty, and the administration are trying to have that dialogue and students are not responding. Besides attending student open forum, there are SGA office hours, House Council meetings, and various workshops and discussions that are organized for the chief purpose of informing the community about the activities of its government.
Opinion articles and “ConnColl Confessional” tirades are not constructive avenues towards “dual communication.” Join a SGA committee, come to open forum, talk to your senator, set up a meeting with an administrator: do something. Apathy is an easy alternative to getting involved, and I can see the allure of complaining and then not doing anything. I guarantee you that our apathy will propagate more unilateral decisions from the administration and less information to the student body.
I appreciate that students, faculty, and administrators can complain about the way our student government runs because it reassures me that what I do matters. What I cannot get over is that they stop at the complaining and fail to act. After three years of seeing this happen, my frustration causes me to speak out. And I implore you to respond.
Sincerely,
Corey Testa
