Get involved! Get involved! And get involved! GM week is two weeks away and the number of candidates listed at elections.union.rpi.edu is dismal at best.
The argument that I hear from some students is that they are too frustrated, tired of the administration, etc. They feel students cannot make a difference. Well, let me evoke my favorite quote. The Mexican patriot Emiliano Zapata said, “I would rather die on my feet, than live on my knees.”
No, the Grand Marshal is not asking you to die, but I am asking the students of RPI not to live on our collective knees as decisions are made around us that require and demand our input.
We can blame a lot of people, and in many cases the shoe fits. As I have said before, the administration must improve the effectual integration of student feedback on key policies, but until we mobilize as an organized, dedicated, and hardworking student body—whether the situation is our fault or not, unjust or fair—we will continue to be relegated as spectators on the highway that is policy at RPI.
Again the administration must open its ears to the voice of students, and we in turn must be prepared to fight for our convictions. We all have a choice; people have been faced with this decision innumerable times throughout history. We can fight for our beliefs or quit. I know many of you and I know few of you to be quitters.
That is why I am imploring all of you to get involved.
If you think that student government, the Grand Marshal, or the Student Senate does not do anything then get involved and make it better. Since day one of my administration I have called for feedback and input from students, and I challenge a student to come forward and say that the Senate or I ignored and did not attempt to champion his cause when they approached us.
But student government can only do so much as long as some students sit on the sidelines and wait for another student to act, or even worse when students spend all of their energies complaining about the ineffectiveness of the current student government rather than doing something.
In high school I worked for the phone company doing outdoor cable repair and my supervisor was there for almost 30 years. He was a blue- collar farmer and lacked both a knowledge and desire to learn to be politically correct. When young workers complained about management he simply said, “Shut up, get off you’re a**, and do something.”
Look for the amendment to the Union Constitution to improve communication next week in this newspaper.
To all the doers at RPI, I applaud you and encourage you to seek office and make a change. It can be done, unless we all roll over and quit. Good night.
