We are in the midst of an epochal change — and the havoc that is emblematic of this moment has arrived on our campus.
If we are to preserve university life as we know it, then we must refocus our attention away from the onslaught of national headlines and instead funnel our energy into local stories. To do this, we must begin prioritizing campus issues.
While our attention has become increasingly scattered over the past decades, what is new today is that the president of the United States — and the massive apparatus he sits atop of — has joined in the fight to command our attention. Some of this is by design: a concentrated strategy to diminish our ability to think clearly and internalize the relentless damage he is causing. And some of it is not: It’s a byproduct of an administration that is staffed largely by unqualified and vindictive individuals who stumble their way into producing bombshell headlines on a seemingly daily basis.
Those that seek to follow every new development are getting mauled by a sense of shell-shock. Feeling anxious and overwhelmed is a completely adequate response to the perception that everything is under attack — everywhere and all at once. This perception is as disquieting as it is accurate. We are living through a once-in-a-lifetime crisis. Order is out, chaos is in.
Many students have simply refused to engage, siloing themselves from all news in an attempt to preserve a sense of normalcy. But shutting your eyes does not change the course of events. If the tumult has not yet arrived at your doorstep, if the pain is not yet being felt in your circle, kidding yourself into believing it will never arrive will only serve to deepen your sense of instability when it finally does.
To the students that have shut it all out, you are right that there is nothing you can do to influence the trainwreck that is today’s foreign policy or steer the economy away from the dangerous ledge it has been pushed toward. You are correct that you can do nothing today to stop President Donald Trump from opening investigations into those he believes have made him look foolish.
What I am urging, both to the overly-apathetic and the overly-engaged, is to divert your attention to the places where you have the power to influence the course of events. Focus on the local, stay close to home and pay attention to what is happening on our campus — because it is ablaze.
The crises our university faces will only increase, both in frequency and in magnitude. The decision to strip Harvard University of its ability to enroll any international students, although currently under a temporary block by a federal judge, should leave our administrators with no doubt: Eventually, he will come for us, too. This is something that Northeastern’s international student community — a community I am part of — understands, and it is up to all Northeastern students to begin planning for the turbulent future ahead.
Do this by informing yourself about campus news. Begin by understanding the local effects on our university and on our community by wrestling your attention away from the constant chaos.
Once you do, find the courage to question, ponder, discuss, reflect — and then organize.
Jack Masliah is a fourth-year political science and philosophy combined major. He can be reached at [email protected]
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