Page 4
Letter to the editor:
Response to "Lifting the Embargo" by
Adam Levenstein
Mr. Levenstein skillfully paints a prosy picture of
Cuba's "Revolutionary Government."
Tell me, Mr. Levenstein...Why would thousands of
Cubans attempt to flee such a utopian environment?
Surely it couldn't be human rights violations...
Ed Wittmann
Junior, MET
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Apathy threatens
Entering the second half of the nineties, there are a lot of
obstacles that college students are going to have to overcome.
College, local and national newspapers report a growing trend that
makes higher education more of a priviledge than a right
These headlines; "Student loan cut-backs," "Student activity fee
passed," and "SGA president resignes," have a direct effect on the
student body. The discouraging amount of apathy that regards
these issues threatens the current state of higher learning.
Maybe there's just not enough time in the day to read the
newspaper. However, juggling a part-time job to pay for a full
load of classes doesn't leave much time either.
If you believe the trends, college life is going to be exclusively
for higher income families. The government wants to cut back on
the money lent to students, while the universities continue to raise
tuition costs. This will happen if student voices are not heard.
The situation is like the much tougher football team who wants
to run up the score. However, there is no battle if the other team
doesn't show up. It's called apathy. Understandably, it's much
easier to slip onto the couch than to slip into pads and a helmet.
But, it doesn't win ball games.
Apathy suppresses the student voice. There is power in
numbers. The student activity fee was passed with little to no
opposition. However, most of the students I've talked with either
do not know what the activity fee is or are against it. So how did
it get passed?
On a local level, the Behrend administration passed a clause,
without Greek represention, that Greeks would no longer be
allowed to rush first semester freshman. Who's next? The varsity
sport teams? Such a restriction would have a sour effect on
recruitment. "Sorry, kid. You can't play this semeter, but eat your
Wheaties and drink your milk and by the time next season rolls
around, you're in.”
This spectator attitude that allows administration to have
absolute control is turning college life into a revival of "in loco
parentis.” The university is able to stifle the voice of the student
through their own apathy. The administration, in a sense, becomes
the parents and the students become good little children who don't
throw temper tantrums, but sit back and pout until the next party.
Maybe students are looking for familial support because the dual
household careers are finally catching up with society.
One of the most powerful mediators between student and
administration is the Student Government Association (SGA).
These individuals are representatives of the student body. If they
current state
Opinion
—R. Carl Campbell 111
appear to be padding their resumes with a dubious title, then they
are lacking student support
Without student support, the SGA members have their hands
tied. They can be easily manipulated by administration. Not that
administration doesn't have the best interest of the student in mind,
it's just that they are not the students. Only students know what
they want and through SGA change is possible. However, when
SGA fails to become that collective voice, then SGA fails.
Student apathy has left the organization that represents them in
shambles.
The sixties proved that students can have a powerful voice in
social and political structures. That is, of course, if they are
organized, committed, and have a goal to achieve.
The 1992 election showed students that they still have a
considerable amount of power. The voter registration movement
elected Bill Clinton because he signified change. He appealed to
students and ventured to appear to us on MTV and Arsenio Hall.
Can Clinton be the source of student angst because he promised
change and never produced?
Or could it be that everybody just wants to be themselves and
can't. The path to individuality and non-conformity has become
molested by industry. By non-conforming, the individual is
conforming to the "norms" of non-conformity. Everyone wants to
be different, but to be different is to be labelled, and to be labelled
is to be put in with a group...
Tatoos, body piercing, flannels, goatees, which at one point may
have been in the waves of American counter-culture, now flood the
shores of American mainstream. The term "alternative" is now a
misnomer.
I'm not saying that there's a whole generation of poseurs and
sell-outs roaming the streets of America, buying the latest Green
Day album. I am saying that industry knows what people want
and that they want to be different, so they appeal to it Whether it
is signing garage bands to major record contracts or reaching people
through advertising, media and prime time television, the industry
knows what they are doing.
Regardless, of the source of angst, there needs to be a time when
the student body unites to take charge of its own needs. Walt
Whitman wrote that the "powerful play goes on and you may
contribute a verse." "May" is the key word here. Apathy is
crumbling the freedom that the sixties had established. No one is
forcing any one else to speak, but it is a decision of whether to rule
or be ruled, or in contemporary terms, plug in or unplug. This
decision is crucial, your future and mine depend on it.
Thursday, October 5,1995
The Behrend College
Collegian
Published weekly by the students
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The Pennsylvania State University
at Erie. The Behrend COlteoe
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Jennifer V. Colvin
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