Is this a tangent introduction? Not quite.
The developments on campus and in the immediate vicinity this weekend have a special, interesting relevance to State and Local Government as well as the community partner requirement.
So, my weekend began with a Friday afternoon meeting with Belmont Chief of Police Don Mattei.
This little over an hour meeting ended in a verbal resolution to get the ball rolling on some kind of initiative with interface between administration and BPD to solve the problem in nightlife present on every college campus.
About eight hours ago, it seemed as though the stars were in alignment for my CP project. At about 1:40, I am driving up Ralston with a friend. We are coming back from In-N-Out in Redwood City, and a fire truck pulls out of the department driveway, heading up Ralston. If I know anything, a Belmont fire truck flaunting its raging loud sirens at 2 in the morning doesn't have much place to go besides..................................................you guessed it!
My friend lets me off behind new hall and drives back the other way to avoid the commotion and find a parking space.
So as an RA, I am to report myself to housing staff in these situations in case any kind of back up is needed. I find my supervisor and a fellow RA calming down a group of students.
Turns out, there were several emergencies last night- at least one of which could have been remedied through programs and solutions I discussed with the chief nine hours earlier.
I, of course need to speak with my supervisor about this. This will not be an easy or particularly short process. We need a mechanism [s] in place to turn campus culture from one of drunken weekends and passing grades to one in which striving for excellence is the norm.
As I check my Facebook this morning, my news feed is ridden with posts such as: "Way to go NDNU." or "Just another night at NDNU, a few people in the hospital, a few more kicked off campus, and things of the like.
I could not disagree more with these statements, but I do understand and empathize slightly with them.
I would like to pose this question to resident students of Notre Dame de Namur University:
Do you realize that you are in college? Do you realize that this is a college? Regardless of where you've been accepted, this is where you are?
Do you know that Stanford University, a mere 25 minutes away, the largest campus in this country does not face the problems we face? Is this because of the quality of students accepted there? Absolutely.
So now, to deflect blame from the Admissions Office of NDNU, let us consider this fellow students: There are many elements to a thriving college campus.
-General standards of excellence in academic programs. One is quality of professors and the academic standard of achievement, as well as norms of achievement unconsciously set by sophomores and upperclassmen.
-Another is quality of education and faculty of reasoned judgement in the general administration
-But a large part that students at NDNU seem to have trouble realizing is that success of a campus is determined by them.
YOU the student, determine the reputation of your campus. YOU the student decide whether or not you want to drink every weekend and damage yourself physically and mentally for the sake of a "great night". This unabashed "great night" mentality is the BIGGEST problem I see here. It encompasses all actions and attitudes of students who give NDNU the name it has.
-Drinking every weekend
-Intentionally not going to class, or showing up late to class
-Paying other students for homework assignments
-Merely passing grades
-Apathy towards campus involvement
-Apathy towards your campus and life
-Attitude toward documentation for violation of the Code of Conduct
-Laziness
-Comfortable and unmotivated immobility. That is --lack of will or desire to make progress, and inability to see that the problem starts with at home- with you.
-Fixation on frivolous agendas
...To name a few....
To me, a great night entails spending time with people I can have fun with. I am young college student, much like any other resident of NDNU. I believe (meaning it is absolutely true) that fun is dependent upon who you are with rather than what you are doing.
You the student, by making the decision to drink every Friday, then complain on Facebook every Saturday morning about the idiots on campus, are doing yourself and the institution a great disservice. Not only are you destroying any chance you have improving NDNU, you are destroying yourself.
You are destroying your chances of developing yourself into someone who is truly driven and motivated. You are developing and eskewed sense of the world in which college (and maybe life) should be fun-- as measured by the number of shots you taken and how many times you've made a fool out of yourself dancing on a table or yelling and peeing off of the third floor of new hall.
The best students of NDNU that I know are ones who make the most out situations in which their favor is not factor. They are the one who think of a future in which they have to work for themselves, and understand that life for the most part, will not be fun.
Moral of the story: This is your place. This is our place. Make it what you want it to be.
The link between my State and Local Government and my first emergency as an RA?
The CP requirement: This is a development that needs to be addressed. BPD is more than willing to work with students and administration to turn around campus culture and remedy the problem of Friday night fire department visits. (These are not exceptionally frequent, but they are a problem)
Questions from the reading:
1.) Why don't third parties win elections?
2.) Does the Tea Party qualify political party under the responsible party model? (In reality)
3.) What could be problematic about divided government?
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