Rob's reckonings
Apathy unfortunate in important decisions
Rob Hanson
Issue date: 11/12/09 Section: Editorial/Opinion
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It's not that the goals of the proposal were terrible, in fact, they made sense. However, as someone who works two jobs and handles a full credit-load and still only has $2.73 to my name as I write this, it was just the thought of dishing out any more money to this university that made me sick.
But as time went on and I heard more and more cries from the Student Senate and the administration for student input on the plan to no avail, something else bothered me even more: the fact that the majority of the students on this campus really don't care about anything.
After the Blugold Commitment was unveiled, our editor-in-chief and I walked around the campus mall to get a feel for what students thought about the plan. As expected, about one out of 10 people asked hadn't even heard the term 'Blugold Commitment' before.
A listening session held Tuesday night for students to educate themselves on the plan produced and equally pathetic display. Five students showed up, two of which were required to be there because they work for The Spectator and a third student present was the roommate of a senator. To top it all off, just five senators graced the session with their presence.
The other night I heard a Spectator reporter complaining that they had used the same technique of asking random students to try to get feelings about the Fort Hood shootings and experienced the same result that I had with the Commitment.
What exactly is going on on this campus that the people who are supposedly the educated members of society have absolutely no idea when one of the biggest shootings in our country's history occurs?
I mean, I guess people dying is one thing, but the university wants to take your money and still nothing? Is it just that looking away from your Facebook profile long enough to turn on the news or pick up a paper might cause you to lose some crops on Farm Town?
Or is it that more than 140 characters is way too much information to digest? Maybe it's just that mommy and daddy's checks always cover enough for rent, tuition and booze regardless of what the chancellor is asking from you?
Just to quit picking on college kids for a while, I will admit that apathy also plagues the general
public as well.
In fact, the thing that really got me thinking about this column was an experience I had while covering a local budget meeting a while back.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 3
DK Murphy
posted 11/12/09 @ 7:52 PM CST
Rob, did you attend the listening sessions and open forum?
Jake
posted 11/12/09 @ 9:45 PM CST
Whether he attended or not doesn't take away from the fact that UW-Eau Claire truly is a very apathetic campus. After four years of the school, and three and a half on the paper, I saw it more than a few times from issues like reciprocity to the smoking ban. (Continued…)
DK Murphy
posted 11/12/09 @ 10:55 PM CST
Whether he attended or not may add evidence for or against the opinion that the campus is apathetic. It would be truly splendid for someone to write an op/ed piece berating people for not attending these events and getting involved, all the while the author did not either. (Continued…)
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