With the search for a new Freeland underway, Tuesday night was the ultimate opportunity for students to have a voice in the selection of their new president.
Students were invited to attend a forum at Snell Engineering, of which the presidential search was the primary topic.
The grand total of students to show: about 20.
Twenty. Many of which were student leaders. Apathy strikes again.
“It’s not necessarily quantity so much as it is quality,” SGA President Ashley Adams said. “And on that level, we exceeded expectations.”
Well, 13,999 Northeastern students might disagree.
One question is the curious absence of academics as a primary topic of discussion. Isn’t this a little like Congress neglecting to discuss politics? How can a discussion regarding the president of a UNIVERSITY leave out academics? That doesn’t sound like quality.
Major topics of discussion during Tuesday’s meeting included improving our deceptively top-ranked co-op program and tuition, the incomparable turd in the punch bowl that is our Northeastern career.
Good to see the major issues being brought up, but do 20 student leaders really provide an adequate sampling of 14,000 people who pay tuition, and a majority who will tackle the co-op adventure at least once? That doesn’t sound like quality.
Fortunately, there is opportunity for a voice. Peter Kunzel, the lone student accepted to the Presidential Search Committee, has graciously advertised his e-mail address for the “quantity” to say their piece.
You might remember Kunzel from his philosophy on leaving students out of his decision-making process. That’s not to argue Mr. Kunzel will throw all those [email protected] into his nearest spam folder, but does [email protected] strike you as a trustworthy medium for speaking your views? That’s not quality.
Again, all the credit in the world to the 20 student leaders who did their job and took time out of their Tuesday night to help make this very important decision for our university. But last night’s discussion forum should be treated as only the very beginning.
It’s time for the 13,980 who didn’t make it to the forum to flood Mr. Kunzel’s e-mail. Ten minutes is all it would take to voice your opinion. A simple “Please make sure the next president lowers tuition. LOL” would suffice.
The decision is an important one. The new president could face a number of obstacles, and to ruin the suspense, there will be obstacles. So as students of this university, it’s time to do our part and make our voices heard. In this case, only with quantity can we hope to achieve quality.
