Speak up now

Arizona Summer Wildcat

If you go by the numbers, UA students are a fairly apathetic bunch when it comes to campus issues.

Only 13 percent - 4,413 students out of an estimated 33,330 - of students cast votes for last fall's failed Memorial Student Union referendum - a measure that would have imposed a $40 per semester fee for all students.

A mere 3,003 - or 9 percent - voted in the Associated Students election this spring.

This is sad Ð in fact, this is more than sad. Percentages like these are truly pathetic and reflect an unfortunate trend in the UA campus community.

This trend is nothing new - and reasons no doubt vary widely among students as to why they by-and-large care so little about issues and organizations that affect their quality of life.

There are exceptions, of course:

Lunar and Planetary Lab engineer Terrence Bressi and physics senior Andrew Tubbiolo's March discovery that the University of Arizona illegally released student, faculty and staff Social Security numbers is laudable.

Likewise with media arts graduate student James Tracy and Monica Wilson, a German and anthropology senior. Their leadership on questions surrounding the UA-Nike contract and the multinational corporation's treatment of foreign workers has helped keep the UA administration honest.

Yet looking beyond the individual issues for a moment, these student activists demonstrate an exception to a larger rule - a rule that needs to be broken more and more frequently should students at this university truly want a voice in their educational destiny.

This rule makes personal concerns - what to do on Friday, significant others, my grade on that last term paper - important above and to the exclusion of all else, including community concerns like tuition, student fees and the community's quality of life.

The 'exclusive' part of this relationship has got to change. There is no doubt that personal concerns take priority in our capitalist, Horatio-Alger-driven society Ð and they should. Yet there is space to care about issues, ideas and programs that affect more than one person, be they in our wallets or ideologies...

• Like $40 student fees.

• Like desiring a non-ramshackle Student Union.

• Like the privacy of our Social Security numbers.

• Like the welfare of Southeast Asian shoe factory workers.

• Like high textbook prices.

• Like small red squirrels and Large Binocular Telescopes.

  The laundry list goes on.

  It comes down to the fact that folks either don't know, don't care or don't want to care. Which leads to the question: what can be done about it? Student apathy or not, a number of issues on the horizon will warrant students' attention...

• Like a possible new Memorial Student Union fee referendum.

• Like campus construction that will shut down North Cherry Avenue.

• Like the August introduction of Arizona International College at East Helen Street and North Cherry Avenue.

• Like the new Integrated Learning Center's now slated January 1999 excavation.

Because these issues and more will come to light as months pass, we would like to hear from you now. What can we as an independent, student-produced newspaper do to encourage campus dialog about these and other germane issues? Is it possible to convince the 'silent majority' of UA students that the campus community is worth it.

Speak up now.