Staff Editorial | Seizing opportunities for student voice

Vassar empowers the student activist. Recent protests in support of SEIU campus workers and this past weekend's trip to Washington, D.C. for a massive anti-war rally are only two immediate examples of the sense of personal responsibility for social change felt among students here. Challenging the administration—whether for better contracts for ACDC workers or the retention of popular figures in the offices of Main—is a common and aggressive move for students eager to affect change on campus. The rally about SEIU contracts, powered by numbers of decided activists outside the library or Main Building, is an affirming sight. It reveals liberal arts students who are eager to have a voice and a share in the functions of the College.

What, then, happens when the administration opens its doors for a forum to decide the College's next President? Apparently, very little. The Presidential Search Committee, established last Spring and comprised of trustees, faculty, and two students, hosted an informal meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 14, seeking student input selecting the College's tenth President. No more than a dozen students showed up. The voices of the dozens of students shouting in support of any hot issue outside of the library some weeks ago are hollowed a bit when only a fraction of them attend an open meeting meant for their input. At the heart of many of the rallying calls surrounding all issues on campus is the question of policy that is ultimately shaped, and figure-headed, by the President. The buck—whether offering better benefits for campus workers, allowing on-campus military recruitment, or keeping well-liked administrators—stops with the President.

It would therefore seem logical that the most actively minded students would jump at the opportunity to share their thoughts and concerns with the professors, trustees, and students who will, in the end, make the ultimate decision. Attendance at the last presidential search committee forum illustrates a general lack of concern or even interest.

Perhaps people do not attend open forums because they assume that someone there will speak for them, or will relate their concerns similarly. Not only is there danger in such lackadaisical assumptions, but there is also a contradiction. Why protest for an issue for the sake of adding your voice to the rally if you’ll then only spurn invitations by the administration and let someone else speak for you in helping to decide the next President? The issue is confounding. The College has offered a forum—just like concerned students demanded the Vassar Student Association to do to settle the recent upheaval with The Imperialist—and yet so few walk through the open doors. Vassar’s small size means students have many ways to communicate with the administration; these opportunities we take for granted are not available at larger schools. Ignoring such invitations undermines progress already made by students, and creates a regressive campus atmosphere altogether.

Who the next President of Vassar College will be is an issue for which we have been given a great headstart. We have been invited to share our concerns and our hopes, and we ought to respond in force and number at the next meeting hosted by the Presidential Search Committee. How empowered, how active, is the student who ignores such an opportunity?