Behavior not Unique to UNH

For the past several weeks, the UNH campus had been buzzing with anticipation for the Avicii concert, which finally took place this past Saturday. As expected, many UNH students and other concert attendees were “hydrated” as Tom Brady might put it, but it is important to note that behavior like this is not unique to the UNH campus.

UNH police announced that 34 arrests were made at the concert. Many of the arrests were related to drugs and alcohol, which should be expected not because this is UNH, but because it was A) a concert and B) it was located at a college campus. It is also important to note that due to New Hampshire’s internal possession law, arrest numbers are often higher than at schools located in other states. For example, when SCOPE brought rapper Wiz Khalifa to UNH last year, there were 48 arrests made on campus that night, as opposed to only two at the same show the night before at the University of Rhode Island.

These statistics are misleading. While one may argue that they show UNH has more disruptive and out of control students, the statistics actually reflect more on New Hampshire’s strict alcohol consumption laws. An internal possession violation in New Hampshire will result in an arrest, while it would only result in a citation in other states.

This misleading stat is similar to the “study” done by The Daily Beast last year that ranked UNH as the “Druggiest School in the Country.” The Daily Beast used the number of arrests related to drugs as their major statistic. High arrest numbers can also be attributed to UNH’s zero tolerance policy and New Hampshire’s drug laws. For example, possession of certain amounts of marijuana in Massachusetts or Vermont will only result in a citation, while any amount results in an arrest in New Hampshire.

While that means UNH has more arrests for marijuana than other schools, it does not mean that UNH students are using drugs more than others. UNH students simply get in more trouble for it.

If that study were to be done accurately, it would need to include citations issued for drug use along with the arrest numbers. In a way, it is kind of amusing because UNH is only being labeled as a top drug school because our policy is so strict. It is also important to note that the arrest numbers do not separate UNH students from non-students. Many of the biggest party weekends at UNH, including Homecoming, Halloween and Spring Climax, are also the biggest weekends for non-UNH students to come to our campus.

In fact, if you compare the statistics provided by The Daily Beast with statistics from UNH Health Services, UNH students actually use marijuana at a lower rate than the statewide average for 18-25 year olds. The Daily Beast listed New Hampshire’s statewide average as 29.21 percent for the month prior to the survey and 41.54 percent for the year prior. Last year, UNH Health Services said that only 27 percent of UNH students admitted to using marijuana on the Housing surveys.

You are probably wondering by now why I am bringing all of this up. I feel that whenever stories break about UNH and illegal activities, it only dampens our school’s reputation.

Following the announcement that 34 people were arrested at the Avicii concert, many local papers, including Foster’s Daily Democrat, the New Hampshire Union Leader, the Nashua Telegraph, and even Boston.com ran brief stories. Many of these write-ups also mentioned the fire at the salt shed as if there is evidence that the two were connected. While this is possible, it seems highly unlikely because the fire was called in at 7:30 p.m., when the concert was already underway.

When large concerts and events come to college campuses you should expect students and non-students to be arrested for drugs and alcohol – those come with the territory. However, we should not allow the few people who went too far, who may or may not even be UNH students, to hurt the reputation of this campus. UNH is already known as a party school, but once you attend it, you realize that it really isn’t any different than most schools, especially public state schools for that matter.

The Ongoing Battle with “Senioritis”

As finals week rapidly approaches here at UNH, seniors are facing one of the greatest challenges of our college careers: the dreaded senioritis. It is an infectious disease that spreads rapidly among roommates, friends, neighbors, and classmates, debilitating one’s academic motivation and promoting one’s ability to procrastinate or ultimately skip assignments. Bar hopping replaces studying as legitimate weeknight activities and our beds become more comfortable every morning.

I had a brief scare last week as some symptoms began to emerge. Luckily I was able to identify them and have made a quick recovery. I realized that skipping class to get caught up on Dexter and putting papers off until hours before their deadline is not sustainable or healthy.

I feel that senioritis hit me harder and much earlier than four years ago when I was finishing up high school. I began to wonder why, and soon the answer became very clear.

Four years ago the high school senioritis bug did not infect me at all, but here I am in November and it is already showing signs. When I was preparing to graduate high school things were looking up. There was a strong feeling that Obama would take the presidency later that year and it seemed to invigorate the young people of America.

Playing baseball in the spring forced me to keep my grades up, not that it was ever a concern of mine in high school, and I was also looking forward to the new personal freedoms of college. But here we are four years later and for the first time in my life I’m not exactly the happy-go-lucky optimistic character my peers know me to be.

Obama has not quite lived up to the expectations of my generation. At the same time the Republican candidates scare me more than when I stayed up to watch Stephen King’s “IT” in elementary school. I couldn’t sleep for a week. Let’s face it whether you are a liberal or a conservative, the man who many consider the top GOP candidate, Mitt Romney, hasn’t even been the true “favorite” yet, and one of his main competitors, Herman Cain, was the CEO a pizza company and has absolutely no idea how to handle foreign policy. Then there’s Rick Perry. He is incompetent, can’t finish a thought (let alone a sentence) and, well uh something else I can’t think of right now. Oops.

The economy is not doing well, the biggest movement in years is taking place on Wall Street and across the country in response to economic inequality and here I am months away from entering the work force. Why would anyone want to graduate right now? It is like an unconscious subliminal message telling us to stay here as long as we can. This year’s senioritis is not caused by carefree attitudes, but because there may very well be nothing out there for us once we receive our diplomas.

But attitudes like that are not healthy. The generation I grew up with has been through some good and hard times like any other American generation. We grew up with constant wars in the Middle East, the biggest attack on American soil in history and now the crisis in the jobs market. But we have also been privileged to live in a time and place where we have the ability to make things better. It can be hard and a long process, but it can be done. The future of our country relies on the new generations entering the work force. We are now about to become responsible for things like improving the American economy and promoting human rights around the world. Will it be easy? Not at all. Can it be done? Definitely yes.

Ask anyone from the generations before us if 50 years ago they thought there would be an African-American President. Do not forget that the Civil Rights movement was only 40 to 50 years ago, which is not a very long time. The people of that generation made sacrifices for our generation. Now it is up to us to do the same thing.

Let the prospect of creating a better country, a better world for that matter, be your motivation to finish out the year strong. But remember, we are still in college. We can’t do or fix everything already. Our time will come and when we receive our diplomas we have a chance to do great things. Oh, wait, my diploma is going to say “History.” Oh crap.

Connecting “Occupy” to my classes

Well it has been a while since I’ve posted something original over on this blog so I thought I’d take sometime to reflect on the semester so far. I wanted to use this blog as a more personal platform and to help filter my thoughts throughout my senior year here at UNH.

First of all, I can’t believe how fast this semester is going by, but I guess that is attributed to how busy I’ve been. We are just about halfway through the semester and the deadline of my colloquium is rapidly approaching. It’s scarey to think that after this semester I will have completely finished all of my major’s requirements. But it’s even scarier to think that I’ll be graduating college in just seven months. I feel like it was just yesterday I was hauling all my stuff up to the fourth floor of Williamson. Anyways, enough nostalgia.

A lot is going on right now in the world and I wish I had more time to really pay attention to all of it. Occupy Wall Street has blown up and spread across the country and the world. I wish the classes I were taking right now could relate more to that so we could discuss it in class instead of just in passing. Even the classes that do connect haven’t allowed for any discussion at all. So, I’m going to try and have my own little discussion right here. I’m not an expert on any of these issues, but this is more just me trying to work through my thoughts.

I think the occupy movement is a great thing. It is a fantastic example of American’s using their right to freedom of speech, assemble and protest. I’m taking a 20th Century European history course and lately we’ve been studying Marxism, the failures of liberal democracies in the interwar period and the rise of socialist and totalitarian states. This can actually be connected quite well with the whole “occupy” movement. Marx said that capitalism creates a division between those who own the means of production (who have wealth, which creates power) and those who don’t. Therefore the wealthy exploit the non-wealthy, who are actually in the majority. Marx wasn’t right that revolutions would be inevitable because he didn’t account for unions and social welfare, but the occupy movement is becoming closer and closer to being the start of something even bigger.

It also relates to the US Foreign Policy class I’m taking. In the 1950s and 60s the United States government supported many dictators in Latin America over popularly elected officials because the dictators wouldn’t take land owned by US corporations, even land that wasn’t being used. This shows that the corporations have a large influence on the government.  Two of the major ideas of the occupy movement are that corporations and the wealthy elite have a bigger say in US politics, therefore their vote counts more than the middle and lower class. In a true democracy everyone’s vote should count the same.

Those are just a few very basic and stripped down thoughts I wanted to express, but I haven’t had the opportunity to elsewhere. One thing I really like about studying history is connecting it to modern issues and events. My classes don’t really allow for that too much so I hope to write things things like this from time to time. Again, I don’t necessarily think I’m always right (in fact I know I’m not), but I just like to express my thoughts to ease my own mind.

Apartment Quiet Hours Under Review

Note: This was a TNH column originally published October 4, 2011. Since this was written I met with the Department of Housing for almost an hour. We discussed the changes in quiet hours and they have since issued a new survey asking residents what quiet hours they would prefer. My biggest concern was they they did not ask for student opinion before making the change and they thought it would cut down on damages. This has not been the case and  damages have occurred at the same rate.

Maybe it is my obsession with the American Revolution, the counterculture or that fact that I read the Declaration of Independence and the Port Huron Statement for fun or frequently listen to Bob Dylan, but I love when the people fight for what they believe in.

This is why last week when UNH Dining declared that it would be halting the sale of energy drinks on campus, I was so furious, and when President Huddleston denied the ban, I rejoiced. Listen, I understand that getting worked up over energy drinks is silly, especially when they are much cheaper downtown, but it was the principle of the situation that bothered me the most.

Where do you draw the line? What is the next thing that they will take from us?

President Huddleston reversing dining’s decision was a minor victory for the student body over the administration, which is something that really doesn’t happen at UNH too often — especially with our mostly passive student body. Many people told me I was overreacting through comments and tweets, but it was clear that they did not see the bigger picture.

It wasn’t about the energy drinks to me; it was about responsibility and the freedom of choice.

On Twitter, I half-jokingly tweeted “no taxation without representation” because of how dining made the decision without discussing options with its meal plan-paying customers. People said I took my comments too far and blew the situation out of proportion. But the majority of the students who still wanted to pay for overpriced Red Bulls at the library got their way. If people didn’t complain, then come January, UNH Dining services would have been energy drink free.

Doing or saying nothing accomplishes nothing.

It was a small victory for the students. We didn’t lower tuition or convince UNH to renovate Hamilton-Smith, but like President Huddleston said, the administration listened to the students. They may have all the power, but we have the vast majority. Students can make a difference on this campus if we care enough to try. We won’t always succeed, but we definitely won’t if we don’t try.

That is why I have decided to do something about another UNH decision that has bothered me this year.

I mentioned it briefly last week, and after discussing it with many students, I have decided it is worth a shot. I will personally be writing a respectful petition and circulating it around the Gables asking that Friday and Saturday night quiet hours be restored to 1 a.m. Like President Huddleston said about the energy drink situation, the administration wants us students to make our own decisions. If we fail miserably, so what? At least we tried. If we don’t try we have already failed.

If the majority of Gables residents are willing to sign the petition, they have to at least listen to us. UNH might not be a democracy, but America is, and the majority usually wins. I say usually because we all remember the 2000 presidential election.

Is this a major problem on this campus? No, it isn’t. But it is a start and something that many students care about, and you need to start somewhere. The one-hour makes a huge difference. The bonus features such as more freedom, responsibility and independence of the Gables and Woodsides are what make them special to the students and worth the extra money. The reason for the change in quiet hours was that housing cited a survey where students complained about noise levels, but I believe the majority of students would prefer the 1 a.m. quiet hours.

During the week, 10 p.m. is understandable, but on the weekends very few students are ready to go to bed or quiet down at midnight. This is not even an issue of being able to party later, but much like the energy drink situation, what comes next? Will there be CAs on every floor like the RAs in the dorms? You may think that will never happen, but did you expect the quiet hours to change without warning?

Many students, such as myself, were annoyed that the change was not announced until after the room selection process was completed and we would have lost our deposit if we sought to live elsewhere. The new quiet hours are not the end of the world, but it is a matter of responsibility.

Obviously, students will not get everything we ask for all the time, but I believe it is worth a shot.

Ten Years

This is my first TNH column of the year. When I woke up last Sunday, I just started writing it without even knowing what I was going to say. It just spilled out. I already wrote the posted the main idea of it Sunday morning, but this is the full version. I hope you take something from it, because I know I got a lot from writing it.

There are a handful of days, moments really, that I will never forget.
I will never forget when my friends and I got sent to the principal’s office in first grade for being too rough at recess. I will never forget certain sporting events I’ve watched or attended. I’ll never forget special moments with my parents and grandparents, my brother’s wedding, or the first time I held my niece. But there are three moments in my life that have forever changed me and everyone I know – both in the way we think and the way we live.

The first of those moments was September 11, 2001. Ten years ago.

It was fourth period – social studies – and I was in the sixth grade. The teachers decided to tell us about the attacks on the World Trade Center about an hour after it happened. I had never had to think about things outside my own bubble before, but that changed when I saw my teacher frantically making phone calls as we entered the room. Her sister was a flight attendant who was safely grounded in Texas.
My teacher brought up CNN.com and showed us pictures of what had happened. We couldn’t even begin to comprehend the situation, why would someone crash a plane into a building? There is one thing that is clear about that day. Whether you are a conservative or liberal, a gun-slinger or a peace-loving hippie, a Christian, a Muslim or an atheist, your life dramatically changed that day.

In ways we don’t even realize, or want to realize, our lives have changed. Whether you knew someone involved or not your world had shifted. That day impacted me in more ways than I imagined it could have when I first heard the news and in ways I am still discovering 10 years later.

The second moment that I will never forget was the morning of my 13th birthday in 2003. I came downstairs and my parents were watching the news and drinking their morning coffee. It was nothing out of the usual, but something felt different.

I looked at the TV and saw that the United States had begun bombing Iraq and “Operation Iraqi Freedom,” which was the “liberty cabbage” way of saying that we were at war. It was the first time in my life where I was old enough to remember or reflect on, my country was at war. As the days passed, the war progressed. Months and years went by and the war had spread. As Hunter S. Thompson so accurately put it on September 12th, 2001, “We are At War now — with somebody — and we will stay at War with that mysterious Enemy for the rest of our lives… We are going to punish somebody for this attack, but just who or what will be blown to smithereens for it is hard to say. Maybe Afghanistan, maybe Pakistan or Iraq, or possibly all three at once.” Ten years later and he could not have been more correct.

The third moment that I’ll never forget came on an August afternoon in 2010. I had been working that morning and when I got home I opened up my Twitter feed. There was a tweet from WMUR that said a Kensington, New Hampshire Army Ranger was killed in Afghanistan. I had grown up in Kensington; it is a stereotypical small New Hampshire town growing from farms to big developments where everyone knew everyone, especially when I was younger.

I feared the worst and when I clicked the link I saw a familiar face. He had been on my brother’s little league team years before and our moms knew each other quite well. It was the first time, and hopefully the only time, that someone I knew died in war. I had friends who knew him much better than I did, but it still hit me hard. It changed my views and made me question certain things.

But one thing is for certain, for as long as America is at war I will always support the troops, no matter what reasons for war our government gives us.

I know this is being distributed a few days later, but when I woke up Sunday morning and began writing this, not even with the initial intention of it being a column, I couldn’t get a quote out of my head. It actually comes from rapper Talib Kweli: “Stand tall or don’t stand at all.”

Stay classy, not UMassy.

You’ve Found Me

Well the day has arrived for the unveiling of my new project. If you are a dedicated reader of my other blog, you’re probably asking yourself “what the hell is going on?” Well, I’m now a senior and my days of only blogging about the goings on of UNH will soon be coming to an end. Scary, I know. These last few years have flown by and the other blog has probably been my greatest accomplishment of my time in Durham. I can definitely say it is the one thing I am most proud of, even more than my good grades and being admitted to the National History Honors Society. I don’t know if I really should be more proud of that blog, but I’ve heard good things about it. Good grades are expected of most colleges students, but starting that blog and maintaining it was all on my own time and I also managed to maintain a healthy social life. Well, “healthy” may not be the best word, but it’s been fun to say the least. So, the reason for this blog is simply because I have falling in love with blogging. I love writing about whatever I want, I love that people read it, I love that people like it, I love that people hate it. For now, and the remainder of this school year, this blog will basically just be  all my “Like a Pro” columns I write for The New Hampshire with a few others thrown in. Much like I don’t want to be the creepy guy who hangs around college after graduation, I don’t want to be the guy who still writes his college blog. So that is what I am doing here. Simply tracking my transition from my senior year at the University of New Hampshire to the real world. What ever that means. I have no idea what I’m going to be doing in a few months and I’m really not worried about it. Yet. I know that I want to enjoy what I do and right now I enjoy blogging, so I know I’m going to keep doing that. Almost everything  I post here will also be on the other blog until graduation. And when I pack up my UNH apartment for the last time in May, the nonsensical happenings of my college days will be over. Maybe someone else will take it on or maybe it will just sit untouched in the depths of the internet for future UNH students to read and learn from. Maybe a new student blog will start. I can’t tell you what will happen. But when I do know it will probably be right here. Have no fear, that site will remain the same this year. I’ll still be posting daily rants, ramblings, stories and opinions. But I can’t do that  on that site forever, so I figured I’d get a just start on it here and build up some solid posts that I can put my name on. For now, I have re-posted a handful of what I think are my better columns and posts with the type of content that this blog will be focused on. All the fun stuff will continue on the other blog so keep reading that daily for all your UNH nonsense.

If you noticed my blogging ID, it might just make the “Like a Pro” title to all my columns make a little more sense.

UNH: Fourth in the Nation (and rising)

Note: Originally published June 16, 2011 and updated June 18 and 24.

In an article from earlier this summer on the Huffington Post UNH was ranked as the fourth highest instate tuition for all public universities in the country. Only Penn State University Park, Maine Maritime and the University of Vermont ranked ahead of UNH. This is one of those rankings that we should not be proud of. UNH President Mark Huddleston certainly is not, on twitter he had this to say to me when I linked him article: “A terrible, but true statistic.”

It may be “a terrible” statistic, but I do not see much being done about it, especially since just two days later an article on Seacoast online announced that UNH could face a 13% tuition hike for the next school year.

On June 22, UNH announced new tuition plans to address the state budget cuts, which cut 48.4% of state funding. UNH’s statement said:

Tuition for in-state students at UNH will be $12,060 for the next academic year; their total cost of attendance will be $24,702, up $1,978 or 8.7 percent from the current year.

In-state tuition represents a discounted price based on a subsidy from the state,” said UNH President Mark Huddleston. “The state is cutting its subsidy to New Hampshire students almost in half. We have done everything in our power to absorb these losses by saving costs on campus; in fact, our faculty and staff will take the greatest share of the burden.

At this rate, when does the tuition costs exceed the true value of a public state university? Let’s face it, UNH is just a public state university, soon (if it hasn’t already happened) the costs will surpass the value and that could be detrimental to UNH’s future. It is not efficient and President Huddleston’s wishful UNH 2020 Plan is becoming even less realistic. With the impending budget cuts, a deteriorating campus, under funded construction (cough Peter T Paul Business School) when will our administration, alumni and state wake up? Raising tuition is a short term answer for a long term problem. The current trend of faculty seeking more money, state budget cuts and higher tuition for both in-state and out-of-state students is simply not sustainable.

Stay classy, not UMassy.

Thoughts on New Hampshire Budget Cuts

Note: Originally published this on May 28th, 2011

In 1970 the free speech and anti-war activist Abbie Hoffman stood on stage at UNH’s Lundholm gymnasium before an audience of about 4,500 UNH students with an additional 3,000 outside listening to the sound being projected through speakers. On that May evening Hoffman said “What has taken you so long? Dinosaurs have been running this f—-n’ state for too Goddamn long… bunch of dinosaurs make all the political decisions in this state. A bunch of senile dinosaurs make all the educational decisions, all economic decisions. How come you haven’t buried the f—-n’ dinosaurs yourselves?”

Sadly, over 40 years later Hoffman’s statement is still dead on. New Hampshire, primarily the state senate is made up of too many people focused on immediate action and not the long term consequences. Earlier this summer the New Hampshire state senate passed a 50% cut to funding for the University System of NH, which is an additional $3 million to what UNH expected to be the worst-case scenario. New Hampshire is already 50 out of 50 for state funding for state universities and that is before the cuts!

On Twitter President Huddleston had this to say (to TNH Executive Editor @ChadGraff) “Budget is looking bad. Fight not over yet, though. Still time for people to contact their state reps to press case for UNH.”

On top of these budget cuts, the timing only makes it worse. UNH is in dire need of construction and building improvements. The faculty wants raises and we’re still many millions short on the new business school project.

Here’s my take on this whole situation. To put it politely, it is bad. Really bad. I’m now a senior and apart from one year more year of higher tuition bills it probably won’t affect me too much, if at all. But as a life long NH resident I know this is not good for the state. As I said on Twitter, UNH does more for New Hampshire than any state representative ever will because they are not thinking long term.

Currently, around 60% of UNH’s enrollment are New Hampshire natives, which would probably be higher, but since out of state tuition is higher than instate, more non-NH students have been accepted recently.

From the previously linked article: “College students at schools in the University System of New Hampshire face almost certain tuition hikes after the committee not only left in place deep cuts made by the House but took another $3 million in aid designated for the system.” If tuition continues to rise, and UNH is already one of the higher costing state universities in the country, you can probably expect more students to look elsewhere for college.

Over 44,000 of New Hampshire’s population are UNH graduates. More and more UNH students are graduating every year in search of jobs, many right here in this state. The better education and opportunities these students receive at UNH, more accomplished workers and professionals will be entering the New Hampshire work force. Do you want to better our state? Then help better our education system. Personally, it seems pretty simple, but our good ole’ senate is too focused on budget cuts to realize what it could do for our future.

You want to cut the budget and cut taxes? Sounds great! But wait… then who will pay for public education? Who will pay for our libraries, hospitals and to pave our roads and repair our bridges? Any ideas?

This is something that UNH students and NH residents should care about and be very concerned about. New Hampshire was recently named the most “livable state” for the 6th year in a row. With the direction of our state’s government, I don’t see that streak lasting too much longer. The future of UNH is kind of frightening, President Huddleston’s “2020 Plan” is looking more and more bleak and this might be the one thing that makes me happy I only have a year left here.

Stay classy, not UMassy.

UNH Students too Passive

Note: This was originally published in TNH on May 3, 2011 and updated June 2011.

A few weeks ago I wrote about the lack of student activism and participation around campus. UNH students, and many other college campuses, are pretty passive nowadays when it comes to holding rallies and protests. Obviously this was not always the case, such as the protests that were held in the mid 1960s and into the 1970s over the United States actions in Vietnam.

It is a little surprising that campuses remain so quiet now, even with the very similar wars going on in the Middle East. Most professors would agree that students do not seem to care about class material or real-world issues, and even President Huddleston has taken notice.

As we all know by now, President Huddleston gave a speech to the New Hampshire State Finance Committee that raised some eyebrows around campus, particularly with the AAUP, who held a “no-confidence” vote on Huddleston’s actions. However, I am not here to critique President Huddleston or the AAUP for either of their actions.

I want to draw light on the particular quote by Huddleston that caught the AAUP’s attention. Huddleston said:

“We still too frequently convey information in 50-minute lectures delivered by a ‘sage on the stage’ to largely passive recipients in the audience three times a week for 15 weeks a term — as if that schedule were Biblically decreed and as if that were the way that ‘digital natives’ actually learn today. Worse, we remain wedded to a credentialing regimen of courses and majors and degrees that mainly reflect ‘seat time,’ rather than what students actually learn or need to learn.”

The part that first grabbed my attention was the “largely passive recipients in the audience” line. You can say that again.

UNH is full of students who really do not care about many classes and real-world issues. Both of these problems have really simple solutions, but the changes need to be made from the top of the university system.

The General Education and Discovery Program systems need to be changed. I understand that it is important for students to have a well-rounded education, but students are too often stuck in meaningless Gen Eds that are simply GPA boosters. What good does that do? Other than boost your GPA of course. Germs? Making Babies? Intro to Music? I’m glad I know that washing my hands is healthy, condoms prevent STDs and babies, and that I can name which one of Beethoven’s symphonies is being played in just 15 seconds.

Watch out Donald Trump, here I come, the future entrepreneur of the century. I’m going to be as healthy as an ox and musically sophisticated, that is a one-two punch to make millions off of.  General Education classes are important for a well-rounded education, therefore they should be more intense. I’m not saying they should be like 600 levels, but a professor knows when their class is an easy A that is irrelevant to one’s true education.  In this age, I believe that environmental sciences, political sciences such as foreign policy classes, and media study courses are integral. Intro to Media Studies (CMN 455 with Professor Meyrowitz), is a general education course that completely changed the way I thought about and analyzed the news. I wish more gen-eds would challenge students like that. The point I am making is that UNH already lacks many critical gen-eds and students generally avoid the ones we do have because we can get away with easy GPA boosters. If UNH loses funding (Edit: which we obviously did) there are going to be even more 250 seat brainless lectures, because classes like those are cheaper to run and there will be even less classes that really make you think. That is what President Huddleston meant with his aforementioned quote. We need more funding, not less, to focus smaller classes on critical thinking and information to make students brighter, not simply boost their grades.

I know I have taken classes at UNH where I received high grades only to wish that I didn’t take the class because I didn’t get anything out of it. If I could go back and change my course selections I would in a heartbeat. I wish I challenged myself more instead of taking easy GPA boosters.

The second problem I mentioned above, UNH students not seeming to take an interest in world news and events, can also be improved.  While many students do actively follow the news, I feel that the majority do not. Or at least they don’t engage in conversations about it. One of the reasons that students of the 60s and 70s were so active was because the schools allowed them to and even encouraged it in a way. Many universities would hold what were called “teach-in” discussions and debates for up to three days every semester.

During these teach-ins, classes would be replaced by debates and workshops dedicated to discussing the Vietnam War and other national events in a respectful and civil manner. What is really more important, learning about something you can probably look up in about three minutes online or examining and discussing real world events that are currently impacting your life in more ways than you know?

Vietnam protesters were called “bad Americans” for not supporting the government despite the fact that it is our responsibility and right to critique the government. I do not think protesters are “bad Americans” at all, but I do think that you can be a “bad American” if you do not take the time to learn and discuss what is really happening in the world.

Then the question arises, should we as a people be morally responsible for letting it happen? If you’re not being taught or discussing world events in class, then it is important to educate yourself.

Stay classy, not UMassy

UNH Admin has Total Control

Note: This was originally published in TNH April 19, 2011.

Last week UNH held the annual student body president and representative elections. I was pretty sad to see that there were only three different pairs of president and vice president candidates on the ballot when it came time to vote and I was even more disappointed when I saw how few students actually voted. During my time in Durham, I have noticed that UNH seems to be a very inactive campus. As a history major I often read about the student rallies and strikes that took place in the 1960s and 70s over Vietnam, Civil Rights and other issues.

Nowadays it seems as though the old fashioned student protest is completely absent from college campuses, particularly UNH. Even back when college protests were common, UNH only had one major strike. It was in 1970 following the Kent State shooting and the Chicago Three’s rally at Lundholm Gymnasium. Despite the last two weeks of classes being turned into voluntary workshops and finals being cancelled, UNH still denies that there was ever a strike.

Even with many student organizations that deal with common strike-able issues, most of those topics slip between the cracks of daily conversations. Outside of those organizations it seems as though nobody truly cares what is going on in the news nationally, worldwide, and even right here on campus.

In those student elections I mentioned earlier, the one with only three presidential candidates and a representative running unopposed, only 2,098 students voted. That is roughly 16 percent of the undergraduate population.

Those numbers tell me a few things.

The first is that the vast majority of students did not vote. But let’s look at that a little bit further. Why wouldn’t students vote in their own election? The simplest and probably the lamest excuse is that they did not know about it. We all got emails, we had two days to vote and there was a voting reminder and link displayed right on the blackboard homepage.

The second reason might be that students do not care about who our president and student representatives are. This makes a little more sense, but much like I tell people who do not vote in the state and national elections, if you don’t vote, I don’t want to hear you complain about anything. You had an opportunity to make your voice heard and you blew it out of pure laziness and carelessness. While it might seem like a lack of voting is due to a poor choice of candidates, maybe it actually shows how students view our administration.

I have been here for three years, and between writing a column and my blog I have been a pretty active student when it comes to keeping up on UNH news and events. I’m probably up there with the editors of TNH and student org leaders for students who follow and read about all of UNH’s activities.

Over those three years I can’t name a single thing the student senate has done apart from medical amnesty, which is still in its test phase and it was only allowed by the administration after it was stripped down so close to nothing that it is practically worthless. I do not mean that against any of the students who worked tirelessly on that project: I tip my hat to them and I thank them. I mean that against the administration.

Our administration has such a tight and firm grip over the student body and senate and they have such a determined agenda that there is no way the student senate and president could actually get anything passed that would actually benefit the student body in ways that the majority of modern college students would actually care about. When I enter most of my classes, I don’t hear students talking about what the student senate is working on or the three wars that we’re in or human rights violations. I hear them talking about the awesome party they went to or how drunk they got at Libby’s on Thursday night.

If our student electives really had any power, UNH would not have a zero tolerance policy, which of all the policies at UNH right now, might be the most ludicrous. This also reflects New Hampshire’s internal possession law. Following the Wiz Khalifa concert there were 48 arrests on campus. The same concert tour was at Rhode Island the night before and there were only two arrests.

I don’t think that the voting turnout was low because of bad candidates or that students don’t care. It was low because it doesn’t matter who is running since, deep down, we all know that student senate is run by the UNH administration.

Stay classy, not UMassy.