Issue date: 2/12/07 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Dana Laventure

College is supposed to be the best four years of your life, right? Well, what if it's not? Is there something wrong with you? Yes. There may not be something innately wrong with you, but there is definitely something wrong going on, and I'm willing to bet it stems from you. Let's explore.

Do you often complain about issues that bother you? Do you find yourself worried about where you will live next year, wonder if you should put in that new nonrefundable housing deposit or live off-campus? Are you unsatisfied with the MAP courses or upset that you have to learn a language you don't care about because all of the other courses were closed? And what about that TA who doesn't speak English - should you fail just because you can't understand a damn thing he's saying? These are natural concerns, and if you have them, that means there is something right going on. So where does the wrong part come in?

Ask yourself now, "What have I done about the issues that bother me?" As the CAS student council president, I can justifiably say that the majority of you have done nothing at all. The majority of you have sat on your lazy asses and complained. It is not just my responsibility as a student leader, but it is also my personal conviction to leave this school better than it was when I entered it. I'm not saying you have to take on that role as well - all I'm asking is that you allow me to do my job. To do it, I need your guidance. I cannot and do not make decisions that affect the student body without polling student opinion. I cannot and do not bring issues to the administration unless there is apparent student concern. I need you to enable me to make this school a better place, because you are here for roughly four years, and you deserve to have the best four years possible.

Think about it: Four years of your life. Four $40,000 payments. Four strawberry fests, thirty-two classes, 7,000 peers walking in the hallways of Silver each day. Four years is an entire presidential term. It's four seasons of new fashion fads. Four years is a large chunk of time to waste complaining.

The CAS student council is hosting a town hall today, Monday, Feb. 12, at 7 p.m. in Kimmel's Shorrin Auditorium. Remember when we were younger and learned about the New England town halls, the original town halls, and what they were like? They functioned as the gathering of townspeople to address issues facing their town. Townspeople attended not only if they had an individual problem to settle, but also to find out what their peers were concerned about, to support their community and to be knowledgeable, active citizens. Have we lost this sense of social responsibility? If NYU, a campus that prides itself on social activism and interest in its greater city community, is composed of students who have no sense of social responsibility to their peers, then this is what is wrong.

Do you want to know why there is no sense of community here? Because you haven't made yourself part of it. You don't care about anyone else's concerns, and you don't even care to express your own concerns to student leaders who may be able to help change the way things work around here. You just sit at your computer, sulk and change your Facebook picture a million times, because maybe that will make it all better. Because maybe through Facebook you can gain some sense of community.

Get real. There are live people here. Live people who are going to be at Kimmel in room 802 on Monday night, demonstrating community. Monday night will represent an authentic student effort to form a real community at NYU. And you will be cutting yourself out of a groundbreaking experience if you aren't a part of it.

You don't have to bring problems to address if you come to the event Monday night. All you have to do is show up and we'll see where it takes us. In setting the advocacy agenda for spring semester, the CAS student council needs to hear your voice, and who knows - what you say, or what you hear, might change history, or at least make the four years we spend at college better for at least one person. Please take the advocacy surveys you will see around campus this week - they're another way you can express your voice, by contributing only two minutes of your time. Show up tonight to support your peers, and to fill your seat in the room, because there is one waiting for you. You are part of this community, and it's time we take a stand to let people know that we actually do care about community, and that efforts to further it are not done in vain.

Join the town hall Facebook group to spread the word. Be a part of something great. Don't be the one to let your peers down. There will be live student bands after the Town Hall, good food and a celebration of community. Everyone who attends the event will be awarded a certificate that says "I support community building at NYU," which you will then have the opportunity to post outside your door. We are starting a community-building movement. Bring friends, make new ones, be a part of the first student-run effort to demonstrate community and make your voice heard.



Meredith Doglin is the CAS Student Council president. E-mail responses to opinion@nyunews.com.

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