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The beat goes on

Those of you who are graduating this week, don't bother to read this column. Skip on over to Overpeck.

This column is a tribute to all of us whose UA experience is still in full swing. Graduates, you get your few moments of glory, a pat on the back and a degree. Now get the hell out of here.

Praise ought to be heaped on those of us who are still serving our time.

For this week, there are the two kinds of students here. There are the ones who get to leave academia and embark upon the "real world," whatever that is. And then there are the rest of us, the ones who will be back for more.

I like being part of the latter-for the most part we're younger, less experienced and even less sure of what we are going to do with our lives.

And most importantly, we're more hip, just by virtue of the fact that we can still call ourselves college students.

Some might say that this is all BS, that the only difference between us and them is that we still have to give our money to the UA.

But it is true that the hip factor of college students far supercedes that of everyone else. It's amazing, once you walk the line and leave academia to, sadly, become a cog in some gargantuan corporate wheel, you're nothing. You're a yuppie. You'll probably even drive an SUV.

You'll be everything that is wrong with America.

Ah, but to be a college student-there's nothing like it. To get away with shopping at thrift stores, to hang out at joints like the Velvet Tea Garden, to go to Texaco at 3 a.m. with your roommate for a caffeine fix when you're pulling an all-nighter-we need to enjoy this stuff while we can.

We need to keep being idealistic while we can, too. The campus group that gets the award for idealism this year is Students Against Sweatshops (aka The Let's Piss Off President Likins group). Whether you agree or disagree with their mission, you have to admit that their enthusiasm and commitment is impressive. No one can accuse them of being apathetic youth. They are doing something-they are putting their heart and soul into a cause in which they believe.

The best example of Hip College Student Idealism this year was the gay rights march on February 13. Over one thousand people pulled together and said in one voice that hate crimes won't be tolerated. They marched for human rights on this campus-what a beautiful thing.

Precisely the kind of thing that you wouldn't find on Wall Street.

But once you leave, it's almost inevitable that you're going to sell out. The "real world" practically demands it of you. You're making a living now. Toss out your picket signs. Cash in your youth for a desk job.

What is great about college is that you're allowed to be idealistic. You're allowed to protest and fight for a cause and stand up for what you believe, to be eccentric and quirky and against "the system."

What is great about the UA is that it gives you every opportunity to be a nutty college student. Comedy Corner in the cellar at noon on Fridays. The Corn Dog Society. Operation Friendly Campus. Voice of Doom (I would say Pickle but he up and graduated, too).

ASUA elections. (Real politics is a bore compared to this stuff.)

What a great deal to be a student at the UA-you get all of the above perks, and you get an education at a nationally renowned research institution.

So to my fellow Wildcats, let us not feel depressed because a bunch of seniors get to leave the UA and we're still doing time. Take some pride in your status as a college student-it's a short-lived, precious time of our lives.

Once you leave, you cease to be hip.

Sheila Bapat is a political science sophomore. She can be reached at Sheila.Bapat@wildcat.arizona.edu.