I would like to thank Jared for bringing the important issue of disillusionment into public discourse. Although I disagree with him—I feel the college has lived up to and exceeded almost all of my expectations—I do not wish to discount the subjective experience of others. Rather, I wish to ask those that resonate with Jared’s words a question: Does the future campus seem to you like an oversold promise?
Most of you probably answer no—rather,
it is a work in progress, a promise not broken but yet unfulfilled. I think this is analogous to some aspects of student organizational life. In the same way that RC4 is temporary and imperfect, so are our policies, and the amount of student input into them. But come next semester, students will be on the committee deciding funding and policies—students from the student government, should we choose such a constitution.
We are under construction, so please do not give up. Build with us. To me, it seems clear that a well-functioning and representative student government is the keystone to our development: so come for the conventions. Disillusionment might not be a choice. But participation is.
—Adrian Stymne ’17