Elite rise and student demise

We are all puppets.

The motions we exhibit are mechanical and manipulated. We perform the act, take a bow and get shuttled off the stage into the back room of society amid the roar and applause of the highest degree of apathy.

We are controlled, and we don’t know by whom. We are co-opted and don’t realize what we are entitled to. We are students whose collective voice gets overshadowed by an enlightened core of select administrators and persnickety student scholars and resume hoarders.  

A university is for students and, in an ideal world, an administration runs it for students.

I say “ideal” because reality has something else in store for our humble college community: the administration (under the reign of particular administrators) runs the University awry, having a tendency to exclude real students in the decision-making process, all in exchange for an elite core that often acquiesces.

The issue is manifest in certain non-elected positions like the student trustee and the Board of Aeons, a quiet organization of students that meets with the President of the University in infrequently publicized proceedings.

“But wait!” certain individuals might exclaim. “Students ARE represented to the administration via these two very examples! Isn’t that what they were created for?”
Well, well, well. This is where we turn up the intensity and get interesting.
I agree with the concept of the Board of Aeons, a time-honored tradition dating back to 1921.

I agree that certain students have a natural inclination to serve, and in terms of efficiency, this type of organization is necessary.

I do not agree with how this board is composed and appointed, not by us, the students, but ultimately by the administration. 

Unfortunately, the student trustee is another position that is largely representative in name only. Technically, the trustee represents us (all 40,354 of us) but is not elected by the students or even known by the vast majority of them.

Moreover, the student committee that works to select him or her is directly appointed by the University president.

The trouble with the Board of Aeons and the student trustee is that these positions are not elected, but appointed, not by the students, but by the administration.

And when, for instance, the trustees vote on the most fundamental reforms at IU, it is in their best interest to limit criticism.

This is most unfortunate when the student body president has no official vote in the process.

The real problem is the apathy that so characterizes the student body in regards to the betterment of campus life.

Quite simply, we don’t care. However, I argue that we are not given a real chance to care. If the student body president was the trustee and the members of the Board of Aeons were IUSA congressmen, the apathy for student governance and change would begin, gradually, to take a seat in the back room.

At the end of the day, the show must go on, and the apathy may remain.
But rest assured, at least one puppet has refused to show up for the performance, and I’d love to have company.