“We’ve got a serious problem,” the President at Florida State University exclaimed. The key word in that statement is the subject “we”. He never pointed fingers, or took blame for the tragedy at hand. He addressed the community and the nation as if it was a national issue that affects us all. Which, in a sense, is true. This issue does affect a considerable number of individuals. Not only campus wide, but nationwide, the repercussions seem to be evident.
There tends to be a common trend with universities addressing this issue with comforting and hopeful words. But are they truly following through with their words or promises? It seems as though the only people talking about the problem are leaders and powerful people. Why haven’t we heard anything from the students?
This is because the students do not have the same desire for a brighter future with Greek Life. They are at a school for four years and their only goal is to have a good time. After they leave the university, the graduates have no sense of awareness for what continues to happen. I asked some friends that currently attend Florida State University as to what the school was doing differently since the incident. “I haven’t seen anything change. People were tense at first, but everything went back to normal soon after. If anything, people have just become more secretive about their actions,” said sophomore August Waller. She explained to me that Florida State has always been known as a party school, and one “bump” in the road will not turn their wildly famous reputation around.
The same is true here at Penn State. At first, there seemed to be clear signs of change. Unfortunately, once everybody got back into their normal routines, the tragedy of Timothy Piazza fell into the shadows. Addressing the issue with Greek Life will never be enough to bring change. Everyone needs to come together. We cannot rely on the people in power to make this shift in culture. The students have got to take the responsibility where they see fit.
Think about it in terms of procrastinating on studying for a final. You keep telling yourself you will, but you mix up your priorities. Eventually, that final will come around, and you will have no idea how to handle it.
I completely understand and agree with the fact that it only really seems the people who control the universities or large organizations are the ones that want to see and implement change. From what I can tell at Penn State a lot of the students lives center around which party is happening which day and how to get the most “fucked up”. It is okay to have fun every once in a while, but when the culture of the students surrounds what can be a dangerous activity, something horrible will eventually happen and keep happening. Students have to realize what they are doing is harmful and they contribute to a culture that can end up harming themselves or others.
I totally agree that those in positions of power shouldn’t be the only ones with a voice to move, but students should also start, but I wouldn’t outright say that student don’t care about greek life because he whole point of greek life is giving to communities. I do see though, how secrets and important problems dying out can equal to students not caring though, because it’s like caring for a fish. To care for a fish you need to feed and clean the tank, but if you and it dies and other fish keep dying it’s because your not changing something and students are not changing at colleges, so i do agree.
Students do have the power to make change happen, but, as I see it, no one really cares. Every time Piazzas death at Penn State was brought into attention, everyone felt bad and gave their sympathy. Then simply moved on. Why? Because we always think it will never happen to us. We sweep it under the rug because he was just “another”. Reality is sad. We want change but some of us are comfortable at our positions, so we dont want to change or we fear that change will impact the parties too much. It means penn state wont be known for its partying. The night life partying activity would diminish and many college students wont like that. The somewhat answer being, “Dont mess up,” “I will never get that drunk,” it will never happen to me. In the end, nothing will change. Yes frats have more rules but how long will those rules be enforced? you just never know (or care) until it happens to you.
I think the problem really is with “us” the collective student body. We see the problem, but either we don’t try hard enough to make a real change, or we don’t even make an attempt because what we have is what’s always been there. As much as a good portion of us say that we want change, until every member of a frat or sorority and every student outside of them makes the clear and solid decision to change, nothing any administration puts out will stop things from happening. There is a huge amount of power in the student body, but it has to be consciously used for good.