If you have looked at my Bio on this blog you will see that I am currently a student at the New School University in New York City. The New School is not all that new. The University has been around since the early twentieth century and has always prided itself on being an institution that is willing to explore the issues of the day. Creativity seems to be an impetus to developing new ideas, whether it be in social research, fashion, film, history, psychology, music and etc. Behind the ideas and academic development are those who undertake the politics of the university. There are those who deal with satisfying the professor's demands, student demands, trustee demands, and staff demands. Colleges and University's are an interesting web of management but a web nonetheless. A web unfortunately spun by a poisonous spider.
Certainly this web may have had the intention to protect the university from becoming "status quo." To be on the cutting edge of academic ideas and lead the way in developing curriculum is exciting and very much the vein of the New School. Unfortunately the web so delicately spun has encased student, faculty and workers upon themselves.
The President of the University has plans and ideas for a better University. There are designs for larger buildings with state of the art equipment, a twenty-first century gym and a unique building facade. Along with this undertaking are the improvements to other buildings which have already begun. These improvements have left many students wondering "what has actually been improved?" There are card activated gates that allow access into some of the buildings. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't and if you don't have the card you are a nuisance to the security guards. If you do have the card and it doesn't work you are still a nuisance to the security guards. There are flat screen televisions displayed throughout some buildings. Most have nothing to offer on them. No information or broadcasting of television networks. I assume an aesthetic choice for art students?
In an attempt to quell further dissension, our President has decided to conduct an open dialogue with the students and faculty with a daily blog. The students have protested with a sit in and are to conduct a meeting with the student senate. Some have displayed their angst on the Presidents blog. The President is making an open gesture to have contact with students but many students are better at hitting and running with complaints online than rather discussing the issues. Many students have voiced their frustrations but have left themselves as "Anonymous" on the Presidents blog. Here is where we fail as students.
We have a voice, so use it. If we are Anonymous then we are no one. Maybe there is a fear that if you complain and put your name down that the school will get you somehow. I don't know anything about that but I do know that if you care about something deeply you let whoever it is know. Anonymity castrates the student body and leaves us as a mass of differentiation. It is easy to look up to those in history who have stood up against opposition. You may know there names. Martin Luther King Jr. Rosa Parks, Abbie Hoffman, John Lennon. There names can conjure action and reflection. But imagine if they were Anonymous. We could never harken back to them for impetus.
