The Collegian: An antidote to student apathy?

Deciding what to write about has not been an easy task because there are so many topics that I feel I have neglected. I wanted to write about the institution of marriage and affirmative action (negative and positive sentiments, respectively, as I hope avid Collegian readers could have guessed). I wanted to write about racism (and its rampant prominence in this country), and about roadkill (it gives me emotional meltdowns). There are a lot of extremely important issues that I never got around to tackling, and for that I apologize.

I feel, though, that my last article needs to be more conclusive of the issues I have previously addressed. I think this will indirectly address the ones that I did not. How to do this was clarified to me quite accidentally by two recent University of Richmond graduates from whom I asked some Collegian advice.

In an ironic tone, one of my graduate friends said, "Why don't you write about apathy? I mean, that has certainly not been written about in The Collegian before." What she meant, of course, was that it has been - in the words of her own follow-up, "That's pretty much all that has ever been written about in the Op-Ed section, in one way or another. Everyone knows how apathetic UR students are - they literally do not care about anything. It's their local claim to fame."

This is my topic, but it is not apathy that I want to stress - it is what I genuinely feel is the lack thereof. Perhaps apathy and selfishness have been the driving forces of the student body in the past, but I just refuse to believe it to be the case anymore. Richmond students do care. In my short four-year experience here alone there has been a remarkable transformation.

It would be impossible to overlook the evidence all around us. I knew one openly gay man on this campus during my freshman year, and he was a token "gay guy" who everyone continuously treated like a caricature; since then, SASD has taken this campus - and this community - by absolute and unshakable storm, demanding with fervor and legitimacy that people are treated like people without exception.

Up until halfway through my sophomore year, not only did I not know the names of the historically black sororities and fraternities on this campus, but I did not know they were on this campus at all; Alpha Phi Alpha has since stepped (get it?) visibly into the spotlight, drawing attention to the fact that its presence was previously ignored by the student population at large while creating an outlet for sorority women, to bond with them and with each other across the racial and gendered lines that are far too easy for far too many not to cross. Just last year, I sat in the office of Ms. Bartel-Keller in a state of nauseating frustration at my own failure to understand why I should ever have to see women that I love and respect beg for entry into parties that they would never be allowed to hold for themselves; the construction of a sorority house will begin next semester, thanks to the work of WCGA.

This list is not exhaustive. Students look out for one another with a fervor that I previously did not think we had in us. Clubs and organizations work together, individuals support each other through ideals and beliefs, and for the first time here - maybe in my life - I believe that I am part of a population that will create changes we all need, on the most trivial to the most universal levels. From one of many, many members of the crowd, this is a figurative round of applause for every single person who has worked in any way towards effecting this change.

That isn't to say that there aren't many problems on this campus (let alone in this country) that remain unsolved or completely unaddressed - it doesn't even mean we have managed to solve even one problem at all. What has happened, though, is unmistakably positive change, and there is no "small" scale or triviality when it comes to progress.

Progress is possibility, and we have to guard against apathy in the future. I really hope caring is the new apathy at Richmond, because I think we all know that the former is a lot more empowering - it may be convenient to travel through life in a cable car, but it is a hell of a lot more fun to truck. We all gotta keep truckin'.

And during your journey toward the greater good, please remember:

\0x2043 Do not piss off pigs and cows, because they are probably more intelligent than us and we cannot spark a revolution.

\0x2043 Sleep and sanity are intricately connected.

\0x2043 Do not talk to strangers. Particularly in China.

\0x2043 There is no such thing as a "five-second rule." Particularly in China.

\0x2043 Working too hard and playing too hard have about the same amount of fun.

\0x2043 Leonard Cohen once said, "Love is not a victory march." Love is also not an elephant walk.

\0x2043 Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can lead them to be thrown.

\0x2043 Always wear shoes in the James River.

\0x2043 If you can't date a nice guy, don't date anyone at all.

\0x2043 Separation by choice is not separation, but division; if we Northerners had taken note of the problematic implications of the latter in this distinction 200 years ago, then maybe South Carolina would still like us.

\0x2043 Do not try to escape a ticket, because you will be caught.

\0x2043 Do not smoke pot, because you will be annoying.

\0x2043 Do not advise people not to smoke pot, because you will be in danger.

Thank you for reading, thanks in advance for writing and keep up the momentum. I look forward to what happens next.