Do Something: The “Announce It Over Break” Strategy Prevails Once Again
Perhaps the imagery is a little strong, but you get the point
Were you invited to this Facebook group? Well, so was I. 1,200 people joined the thing. 1,200 people said that they are against the somewhat vague notion of “RPI Housing Reform”. From the first announcement of these changes, the majority of students have been opposed to the proposal (mostly on the grounds that some easy fixes would alleviate a lot of problems, e.g. Blitman is designed perfectly for sophomores), and we were glad to see that students were actually thinking about the issue, working together, and planning their response.
Today is January 15th. Classes start the week after next. There hasn’t been a post on the Facebook group since January 8th. A whole week of no posting! This is incredible considering the fire and brimstone students were posting for several days after its formation. Student interest in this issue appears to be gone.
We don’t blame the students. They’ve simply fallen into the trap that the RPI administration has set time and time again: they announce an unpopular policy via email at the beginning of a long break, and by the time students come back, they will have forgotten. Look at the anger and emotion of Uprise at Five. That continued on through the semester (for some), but after the summer, students came back willing to let it all go.
Classmates: You have an important decision to make. Will you find a way to constructively voice your opinions about this issue or will you let it go?
I’m not being idealistic. I know that the likelihood of changing this policy is very low. The Vice Presidents who make these types of decisions are not usually willing to go back on them. But this isn’t about changing the housing policy. This is about giving students a voice.
The formal communication channel for students voices is the Student Senate. The Senate had its last meeting before finals even started, so they weren’t able to make any sort of statement about the housing policy. A grassroots Facebook group started, but seems to have fizzled out. This issue needs a clear and strong leader (or group of leaders) who can make sure that the student voice is heard.
It’s not only about voicing negative concerns. Students should be voicing the things that they do like about the plan (the most important of which is probably the timeline). Get a sheet of paper, and start writing out what’s good and bad about the plan. Call it a List of Complaints, a Manifesto for Change, a Student Perspective on Housing — it doesn’t matter. Make it intelligent, and make it public. Get student input from across the spectrum. Make it look pretty. Publish it. Make copies. Send it to student government. Send it to Residence Life. Send it to Student Life. Send it to the President. Heck, even send it to the Board of Trustees. Send it to the media, and send it to us. Get the student voice heard, and you will have accomplished something. Explain that you attend a university, not a business operation. Do SOMETHING before you lose your chance.
Or, just sit there and complain. See what happens next time.
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I’m all for trying to get the students voice heard by the upper administration. I think it will be very heavy being that they don’t even listen to the professors on other matters, but hey, you can give it a shot. Hopefully there is some way I can help.
-Berko
errrrr i meant to say very hard, not heavy lol
I find it ironic that you’re criticizing students for sitting around and complaining in an article where you sit around and complain. If it’s so important to take action, why don’t *you* organize students and write manifestos?
Lets not be too harsh here. The author was only trying be the first step in hopefully the right direction and maybe they feel they wouldn’t be the best choice as a leader for such a group. Maybe someone else would be more willing and capable for such a job, although I still believe against this administration it would be an up hill battle.
-Berko
I have to agree with curious here – IF this is left simply as a post on RPInsider it’s effectively the same as just sitting around and complaining. That’s a big if though – this can either be more of the same or a great start.
Purpose is established. There’s wide sentiment that the housing issue (at least, procedurally) is another Bad Thing in a long line of Bad Things that make up the Very Bad Thing that is the general lack of student voice on campus. Good, step one complete.
You can just sit around asking for a leader to step forward OR you can start actively recruiting leaders (or what I prefer to think of as organizers). Start naming names, find the people who are passionate about RPI and have a vision for it as a place where students, faculty, and administration work together for the betterment of the school for everybody. I bet the RPInsider editors know a couple people and, if not, the readers do. Pick up the phone and call your friends and say “hey, you need to help organize this. you know you’d be great”.
Start making plans even if you don’t want to be a leader. Make real suggestions. This post starts great with talk of manifestos and other such documents. The key is to get out of the rut of “we need to do something” and into the mode of “here’s what we can do!” Most importantly, make plans to do things in real life rather than on the internet. This is great way to get the word out, but people will operate very differently in the real world. You won’t know who’s actually dedicated to helping out until you ask them to do something off the computer.
Don’t just say “I hope I can help” (not directed at you Berko, just in general). Say “I can help by doing XYZ” and then DO IT. Can you set up a website built for collaboration that works better than Facebook? Do it! Can you write well? Write a manifesto/list of complaints/statement of purpose and say “Hey guys, I did this. What do you think?” Rewrite the general complaints in real actionable terms. Hell, think of the important questions, make an online poll and send the link to RPInsider and the Facebook group. Don’t think you can do something constructive? Call your friends who can and get them on this pronto!
There is a week left before everybody returns to classes. This is an opportunity to get things set up for real action when we return so that the gears are moving before everybody gets too bogged down with work. While it can be said that the time was chosen by the administration specifically to reduce the possibility of organization, it can also be viewed as a golden opportunity to get things going while everybody is still refreshed from break.
I’m a senior and this is my last semester at RPI, so this isn’t really my battle anymore. You guys can do this, though. RPI accepted you for a reason – now show them what some intelligent people with a vision can do.
In today’s poly in a few articles theres mention of an informal meeting to discuss the housing situation tomorrow night at 8pm in the Student Government Suite. Seems like something you guys could put on your site so people will know about it.
@Jay Walker
Thanks Jay! See here.