So I've been wanting to write a column on leadership. On what it is, what it ought to be and how well it's practiced here at Duke. But I figured that, if I wrote it, I'd sound like I was preaching, or, even worse, I'd just sound boring. But judging by recent events, I think some of us could use a sermon on how to lead, even if I sound a little cheesy in the process.
It seems like we've been complaining for awhile now: about the intellectual climate on campus; about social life or the absence thereof; about unfair, unwieldy and unnecessary administrative policies. This grumbling hasn't really produced much in the way of change, though. And it's because of something else we've been complaining about recently: ineffective student government and the lack of student leadership.
The latest chapter in this ongoing saga of student dissatisfaction involves Campus Council and their endorsement of a Residence Life and Housing Services plan to shorten the upperclassman move-out period. Apparently, the Council felt pressured to accept a plan they didn't too much favor in the first place. Faced with the choice of representing student interests or bowing to the administration, they chose the latter. According to published reports, they knew what students desired, and they knew what they, themselves, wanted, but they were too timid to advocate for more than they thought they might get. They preferred to acquiesce rather than fail trying to secure our interests.
And then, in a show of ambivalence, Campus Council reversed its position when faced with the dissatisfaction of the student body. Campus Council President Jay Ganatra issued a statement claiming that Campus Council now supports the eight-business-day move-out period. And, in a further show of indecisiveness, he implied that student surveys will be used in the upcoming weeks to shape the future stance of the Council.
This kind of reminds me of Alexandre Ledru-Rollin, the French politician who, while watching a growing mass of protesters march through the streets of Paris, shouted: "There go my people! I must find out where they are going so I can lead them!"
This is precisely the kind of pseudo-leadership we are plagued by on campus: leadership that attempts to lead from the back or by looking back; leadership that is uninformed and, therefore, indecisive.
Many Campus Council members genuinely thought that the organization's opinion would have little effect on the move-out policy. And they were certainly justified in their thinking since Campus Council has little if any actual power. But true leadership strikes a balance between realism and idealism. A good leader knows when to bargain and when to demand; when to give and when to take; when to compromise and when to confront.
Duke student government organizations merely possess a symbolic and influential power that can only be effective in unity. The relative strength of this power of persuasion is solely determined by the clarity of our collective voice. Should we choose to broadcast a muddled and discordant voice, we risk the ear of the administration and the confidence of the Duke student body. If we pass one resolution just to repeal it the next week and have to conduct massive surveys because we don't really have a clue what students want, then we show our weakness and jeopardize our influence.
Leaders aren't leaders because they want to be. They're leaders because of the vision they already have, the strength they've already forged and because the direction in which they're already headed just so happens to be the direction their followers desire to travel. Changing your own direction just so you can stay at the front of the crowd is not leadership, it's self interest, the antithesis of the self sacrifice necessary to lead.
I don't mean to jump on the bandwagon of criticizing those who have the will and courage to try to effect some change on campus. And I don't mean to blame Campus Council for a universal problem. They are hardly the only ones responsible for or suffering from a lack of effective leadership. But the fact is, we're still complaining, and little is being done to address our grievances. If the essence of leadership is to change things, then our purported leaders are failing. It seems to me that we need to make some real changes to student life. But in order to do that, we need some real leadership.
Anthony Collins is a Trinity junior. His column runs every other Wednesday.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.