Students, including student leaders, should fight campus apathy

3/11/14 5:39pm

In the past month, Rice students heard it repeatedly: Our biggest flaw is our apathy.

Some are too busy to read the news, a few don’t really care at all and most students forget that there is a world outside of Fondren and their dorm rooms. 

In the past month, Rice students heard it repeatedly: Our biggest flaw is our apathy.

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Some are too busy to read the news, a few don’t really care at all and most students forget that there is a world outside of Fondren and their dorm rooms. 

However, students don’t always live in their own bubbles: A few weeks ago, the student body lamented the uncontested Student Association positions, but when a write-in candidate came out of the blue, students felt more passionately about the Student Senate than they had all year. The members of the student body elected expressed their disappointment with the status quo and elected a fellow student who promised that Rice is not as apathetic as people believe. We aren’t inherently apathetic students — what changed us?

The reason for students’ disappointment is that they cannot see the effect of their participation. For example, the SA sends out multiple surveys throughout the year. In the past semester alone, students received at least four surveys on redesigning the RMC, on Housing and Dining, on creating an English minor and on transfer credits. However, students are rarely notified of the outcomes of these surveys. The SA claims student input will affect the administration’s decisions, but students never know how that influence actually happens. According to the SA, there are issues that the administration refuses to discuss. In these situations, the SA should communicate the administration’s sentiments to the student body, so students will understand it is not the SA’s fault. The student body needs feedback to see that its opinions and participation are actually making an impact. 

To make matters worse, candidates’ unclear agendas prevent students from making the most informed decisions when voting. From the election blurbs in the Thresher — except for the presidential candidates — each candidate’s distinct agenda was not present. When voters do not know what these candidates represent, how can they decide who they should choose as representatives? Because of the lack of the substantive agendas, it is natural for students to assume there is no distinction between candidates, so voting appears meaningless. In addition, when candidates don’t have concrete ideas, it seems like they’re not going to achieve any real goals anyway.

This disappointment with the candidates contributes to students’ ignorance. The majority of the student body doesn’t make it a priority or a personal responsibility to be aware of college and university-wide issues. Moreover, many of our leaders don’t reach out to the student body, whether they are at the college level or Senate level. Students can’t raise their voices about issues if they don’t know what those issues are in the first place. To encourage students’ opinions, leaders are responsible for educating their constituents and keeping them up to date. Of course, that’s not to say this responsibility lies solely on student leaders — the student body has to meet them halfway. So, leaders: Keep trying — open the students’ ears and eyes to the issues at hand and explain why they are important. And students: Try to attend a Senate meeting, committee meeting or cabinet meeting. 

Moreover, don’t stay silent. If you have an opinion, share it — tell your student leaders. Better yet, become a student leader. Too many students are afraid of sharing their opinion for fear of backlash against them. College is a micro-society that is much kinder than the real world: If students can’t share their opinions here, there is no way they will be able to share them in the much harsher future, when it will be particularly important. So speak up, whether it’s on your behalf or another student’s.

We have to admit that it is easy to become apathetic. To be informed students, we would have to spend a great deal of time and effort studying the candidates and the issues, yet we would only have a 1/3920 influence on the outcome. The outcome of the efforts we put into voting is so small in comparison to the input that it is reasonable for students to feel insignificant. Therefore, it is the SA’s responsibility to make each student feel significant. Don’t take the easy way out — educate yourself, improve our leaders, speak out and make yourself heard. After all, only when more students care about the school issues will the people in charge be more compelled to fix them. 

Anita Alem, and Susan Jieya Wen are Martel College freshmen. 

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