This is all your fault

3/13/08

By Keith Whitcomb Jr.
Critic Editor

We’ve all said to ourselves at some point, “Man, LSC sucks.”

Admit it, no matter how much you might like this college, there are things about it that annoy you; the parking stinks, the res halls are depressing, the food is awful, the curriculum doesn’t meet students’ needs. Everybody’s got something to moan about.

For all the griping we do, how many of us actually stop and do something about it? When’s the last time something on this campus pissed you off and you took action to change it?

No, this isn’t a “get out the vote” plug, and no, I’m not telling you to be a good little student and volunteer to help the community. There are plenty of students who volunteer their time and effort to put up posters, organize events, and feed orphans or whatever. Maybe they do it out of the goodness of their hearts and maybe it looks good on an résumé, I don’t know and I don’t care.

What I do know is that there are lots of irritated people on campus who are content to grumble from class to class, then back to their dorm room where they poke around on the Internet all night, drink, do a little homework, and maybe sleep.

I’ll use the latest hot topic as an example: The “new smoking policy”, the one that bans lighting up from anywhere on campus except for parking lots. I spoke to a lot of smokers when the news got out, and not a single one was happy about it. Oh, you should’ve heard the grand plans that were laid. One guy was going to hand out cigars to people Jan. 1, most were going to simply ignore it, some even said they’d smoke inside.

The coup de grace of all the anti-smoking ban ideas was the protest that was going to be held; the kind with signs and standing around shouting things. Before he was elected Student Government Association president, Jon Maciel was going to be involved in this. Maciel himself is a smoker, you can see him out in the parking lots these days, puffing away, but what happened to his protest? It’s been a long time since Jan. 1.

He became SGA president, that’s what happened.

“It wouldn’t have been appropriate for me to be involved,” Maciel said. “Besides stepping on the toes of the administration, which I’m trying to work with.”

Let’s give Maciel some credit; he has said that he would support a protest if someone organized one, but he’s not going to initiate it.

So, LSC student’s, there’s your president. That’s the guy who’s theoretically supposed to be your voice to the administration, unless of course they don’t like what you have to say, then you’re on your own.

Don’t even think of complaining about Maciel. No one, aside from a write-in candidate, ran against Maciel in the last election. The SGA hasn’t had a full executive board since last spring. As soon as the positions get filled, someone on the board steps down. First was Stephen Farrow, the secretary, second it was Michael Hannan, the vice president. I’m amazed we even have a treasurer at the moment.

Not long ago, the student Senate had 19 senators, enough to meet separately from the student House, which they no longer do. Guess how many senators we’ve got now? Four. We had five, but Ashley Mullen resigned (with an e-mail Haiku no less). As for House reps, they’re appointed by clubs, but they’ve got quite a high turnover rate as well.

I’m sure the people who have resigned from their posts had their reasons, but it doesn’t change the fact that getting people to step up to the plate and get things done on campus is like pulling teeth.

But I’m not here to shill the student government, nor am I advocating community service. I’m telling you that if there’s something you don’t like about LSC, do something about it. I have yet to hear one of the student senators bring a complaint or a suggestion to the House that they got from a student. Maciel might have put aside his own crusades in order to keep the administration happy, but truth be told, I don’t see any other smokers organizing protests either.

There are only about a thousand reasons/excuses to keep far away from the SGA, the clubs, or any other extracurricular activity. Go right ahead and make them if you want, I’m sure for some people, they’re legit, but the next time you see something on campus you think is stupid, or is giving you the proverbial shaft, you’ve really only got yourself to blame because you didn’t, and most likely won’t, do anything about it.