Growing up in Vermont, things were … slower. Nobody was rushing around. Nobody was worried about the latest this or that. But almost everyone knew their neighbor, their town clerk, their postman and their convenience store owners, and everyone would help their community members if they ever hit a rough patch.
That is what I find lacking in my current life here at Northeastern.
Northeastern provides the basics of education and learning for its students. But it provides little community, and a luck-based but haphazard support system for its students. Sure, you can go to a party on Mission Hill and see some old friends or you can go to Conor Larkin’s and meet up with classmates after a final exam, but what about the school as a whole? Is there any association between the large bureaucracy of Northeastern and its thousands of students?
To answer simply, no, there is not. If I call Career Services to make an appointment with an advisor, but I have to work my co-op job Monday through Friday, I’m out of luck. If I need help picking out a non-governmental loan, Student Financial Services will simply say, “Sorry, can’t help.” And if I need a ride from Public Safety from outside a one-mile radius of campus, they will say, “Sorry, we’re not a taxi service.”
What happened to people helping people? I know it exists on the small-scale with people holding doors open for others, but what about more intimate acts of kindness? Why can’t someone in the Student Financial Services go out of his or her way to get you a reduced-rate parking pass because your car has gotten broken into? Why can’t your co-op advisor find time to meet with you when you are struggling with your co-op? Why can’t Northeastern be there for you when you need help?
If I’ve learned anything from Northeastern, it is this: People do what they do to get by. The staff at Northeastern may appear to want to help you, feel a bit sorry when you are struggling, but mostly they just want to get through their day. Oftentimes people don’t go the “extra mile” because that could potentially get them into trouble.
Northeastern has yet to foster any type of community among its staff, its students and the city of Boston. Why? Not sure. Maybe it is simply the culture of a large urban university. Maybe community cohesion is not cost-effective. But whatever the reason, the school needs to start incorporating the values of community and service into their mission statement. Until then, we are each struggling just to “get by.”
-Anna Raymaker is a senior nursing major
