Undergraduates must gain perspective

As a graduate student, I don't live on campus, nor do I plan to. Most grad students don't. This has allowed me to be an unbiased and somewhat amused observer of the general state of disorganization on the part of both undergraduates and administrators in the recent housing and alcohol policy changes. Gee, people around here sure do complain a lot, don't they? Students complain about being ignored and treated like children. Administrators complain about student apathy. Finally, when a group of students attempts to organize in protest, everyone complains that their protests are too little, too late.

But did anyone notice the ironic coincidence of two events on campus Monday? As a handful of students encircled the Allen Building to make their complaints heard, a much more solemn voice was heard by passersby on the Bryan Center walkway. It was the voice of a student reading the names of thousands of individuals murdered by the Nazi Holocaust.

Those who stopped to hear this voice could also view pictures of those who didn't have to decide between East and West Campus and between kegs and BYOB, but instead had to choose between work camps and death camps, or between feeding themselves and feeding their children. A mandate to eat a certain number of meals per week in a certain place on campus wouldn't have bothered them much. It sure would have been better than having to eat trash, or rats or nothing at all.

It's odd how people don't feel motivated to "speak out" until their own rights are trampled on. Having to live in a triple with no air conditioning, or having to live near the freeway sure gets students pissed off, doesn't it? But I ask that those getting so bent out of shape about dorm rooms and beer make an attempt to put these concerns in their proper context, and remember the times in history and places in the world today where unspeakable justice is de rigeur.

Sure, students have the right to be treated with respect and consideration by administrators, and administrators have the right to expect interest and constructive advice from students. But try to think about problems in the world outside your little niche, and suddenly no dorm on campus, even Trent, seems all that bad.

Kevin Myers

Graduate student

Dept. of Experimental Psychology