Tuesday, July 22, 2003
A finger worthy of Chomsky
As students in the UC system, we're lucky. We've got a student regent. Our student regent is there to represent our interests to the body of the UC Regents, and maybe entertain the group while Ward Connerly is on break. Unfortunately, we're not that lucky, because our student regent seems set on making himself useless.
Maybe it's just because he doesn't have Mo Kashmiri's advice, but today's opinion from Mr. Murray which points the finger at Republican legislators for our fee hikes is about the most disappointing thing I've ever heard.
It's not that he's wrong. He may very well be right, I'm not masochistic, and I'm not going to bore myself to death following state budget politics. However, even if he is right about everything, who gives a damn?
I can blame people too. I can whine. I'm good at that. We can rely on our various student organizations to whine, too, and point fingers. Kashmiri's probably on the ball, and Anu Joshi throws in her two cents. Joshi has this to say: "We must hold the legislature accountable to the millions of students and parents in this state." (Actually, since Joshi is our External Affairs VP, I kind of expect more from her, too) Murray points out that Republicans won't raise taxes, so we're all screwed.
Notice anything missing in these two opinions? I did. SOLUTIONS.
Yes, that's right, those people who are willing to go through all the trouble to get into these positions have a responsibility well above and beyond whining on our behalf. Anyone can whine on behalf of the student body, and most people do. I'm doing it right now. You don't need to be a VP or a Student Regent. I'm not willing to go through the effort to get one of these positions, and even if I could get these positions without effort, I wouldn't want them, because I can't solve these problems that we face. I have no idea how to solve these problems, and the same probably goes for most people.
But saying "I can't solve these problems" doesn't work when you actually try to get into the position of power where your responsibility is to solve these problems. So let's hear some alternative solutions from our representatives. They're useless otherwise. In fact, this kind of finger-pointing just reinforces the general public opinion that students are merely a bunch of whiny freeloaders with no ideas of their own.
So yeah, let's assume the Republicans are screwing us over. There's nothing the regents can do to change this. "All the Republicans should just change their minds" is not a solution. We need solutions which can be executed by the Regents, or by the student body, not those that rely completely on others. So please, please, please, Mr. Murray, wake up to your responsiblity. You knew what you were getting into.
. . .
|
. . .
|
