2008 Woodie Awards
Student unrest speaks to campus health, values
Issue date: 10/18/07 Section: Opinion
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We are the sons and daughters of generations often seen as being far too outspoken, far too "riled up." We are the children of hippies, of civil rights activists, of those individuals who, when they were our age, chose to demonstrate their unease, hoped to promote change by taking a stand and making some public display. They understood that having an opinion mattered, that constantly asking questions is so very important and that, indeed, necessary change comes by way of inducing stress.
In recent years, Collegio columnists have complained of the PSU student body's apparent apathy toward issues of the day. This often serene, quiet campus bothered columnist Mallory Murray, in particular. Last year she wrote in this newspaper: "College campuses and college towns are supposed to be places where ideas can be bantered and discussed and even shouted. Pitt State, for too long, had no voice."
With groups like PSU's Hispanics of Today (HOT) and Black Student Association (BSA), PSU is slowly regaining its voice. By organizing protests (such as the one BSA took on this week to express earnest dissatisfaction and disgust with what they perceived as continued racial injustice in this country), we are proving that the future of America gives a damn.
We are proving that we are not an idle, apathetic bunch.
The Collegio staff has great admiration and respect for those students who are taking up the chance to cry aloud the injustices of this world, to attempt to shake this community from its apparent daze and remind the students of PSU that questioning one's home, one's upbringing, one's superiors, one's government and one's peers are all a part of growing up.
If this town, if this campus, must be awakened with a start, then let it be so. Signs of anger and dissent need not be marks of an unhealthy, unhappy community. On the contrary, they are signs that this community is nurturing complex, adult minds who refuse to accept the status quo, who seek real change.
That's what college should be about. As such, these events, these protests, are something of which we hope to see more.
Not because drama is delicious, not because chaos makes good news ... but because it's when a community feels that there are no more questions to be asked, when a community settles into ambivalence, that higher education has failed.
In recent years, Collegio columnists have complained of the PSU student body's apparent apathy toward issues of the day. This often serene, quiet campus bothered columnist Mallory Murray, in particular. Last year she wrote in this newspaper: "College campuses and college towns are supposed to be places where ideas can be bantered and discussed and even shouted. Pitt State, for too long, had no voice."
With groups like PSU's Hispanics of Today (HOT) and Black Student Association (BSA), PSU is slowly regaining its voice. By organizing protests (such as the one BSA took on this week to express earnest dissatisfaction and disgust with what they perceived as continued racial injustice in this country), we are proving that the future of America gives a damn.
We are proving that we are not an idle, apathetic bunch.
The Collegio staff has great admiration and respect for those students who are taking up the chance to cry aloud the injustices of this world, to attempt to shake this community from its apparent daze and remind the students of PSU that questioning one's home, one's upbringing, one's superiors, one's government and one's peers are all a part of growing up.
If this town, if this campus, must be awakened with a start, then let it be so. Signs of anger and dissent need not be marks of an unhealthy, unhappy community. On the contrary, they are signs that this community is nurturing complex, adult minds who refuse to accept the status quo, who seek real change.
That's what college should be about. As such, these events, these protests, are something of which we hope to see more.
Not because drama is delicious, not because chaos makes good news ... but because it's when a community feels that there are no more questions to be asked, when a community settles into ambivalence, that higher education has failed.
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