Defenders of student
liberty need to stop crying about apathy

By Dave Flomberg
The Metroploitan

Apathy.

Itās the charging word of the cause. Itās the call to arms and the incitement phrase to take up the reins of leadership.

Itās whatās to fight against at this school, especially during student government election time.

Itās perceived as an insidious evil, creeping its way through the halls of this institution, weaving its web around the hapless, unsuspecting masses.

ćWeāve got to get more students involved!ä the champions trumpet. ćWe have to make them feel like their voices are heard! If we fix it, they will come, right!?ä

Wrong.

The very idea that the apathy that exists here is an accidental,
no-one-gives-a-damn phenomenon is little more than an insult ÷ a proverbial

slap in the student bodyās face. The powers that be need to wake up and look around for a moment.

Itās a chosen path.

The reason people donāt show up for student fees discussions isnāt because they donāt care. Itās because these people have lives outside of the goings on at Metro.

These people have families and jobs outside of this campus and, quite simply, donāt have the time to get active.

This isnāt going to change anytime soon. Not so long as Metro remains a commuter college in a major metropolitan environment.

Fact is, this is not just a non-traditional educational institution. Itās as far from a traditional institution as the Cubs from a pennant.

So what to do?

Forget about it.

Several things need to be accomplished on campus, whether or not thereāre 1,000 people trumpeting the cause.
So stop trying to rally a bunch of people who canāt be rallied and try focusing on the issues.

You donāt need an audience to fix a leaking faucet.

Metroās administration sees the student government as little more than a slightly bothersome housefly in middle of summer.

That opinion isnāt going to change anytime soon, either.

What it comes down to is that the student government needs to recognize these unavoidable realities. It needs to cease being an irritating housefly and become an angry wasp.

It needs to realize that its job is to represent the entire student body ÷ not just those who vote ÷ and fly in the face of those who would challenge its constituency wielding an unsheathed stinger.

The student government needs to recognize that 17,000 students at this school all pay student fees and tuition.
Each and every one of them is entitled to the same representation.