God only knows how many times housing, dining halls and Boston University spirit have become the center points of cynical rants throughout this University. The problem exists, the University deserves criticism and the student population’s ridicule is justified. However, over the past four years, the students’ unflinching animosity toward this school has provided one sad effect: no one seems to acknowledge, or perhaps wants to acknowledge, the aspects of this University that are not only good, but also that deserve praise. This is understandable because the freshmen experience pits us against them.

We arrive here with grand illusions of college life and are understandably irritated when arguably unnecessary on-campus regulations threaten the experiences we want to have. The smart ones, like myself, get out ASAP. Others with financial obligations or parental objections are forced to stay on, and I am sorry, I really am. Now this is a perspective column, and as I see it, my perspective is very different from those students who have wallowed in the proverbial cage of dorm life.

Yes, I understand the pains that you feel, but I am three years removed from such pain. The curfews, the guest policies, the mashed potatoes are much more tolerable as fading memories than reality. What I am about to write is not cynical and I was not paid off by Chancellor Silber. No, the following comments should be considered as mere weights balancing a scale that is both rightly slanted against the backward policies of this school and equally mistaken in ignoring positive aspects of this University that we take for granted.

The lively social scene makes it easy to lose sight of why we are here in the first place. What we all need and what we are all here for is to get an education and join the world as independent adults. Our professors are not only sufficient means of gaining this education, but in my opinion are often over-qualified to teach students who are not always the most receptive on a Monday morning.

We are not the bookworm types you see over at Harvard, but we are among the brightest students in the nation and have the luxury of developing our minds under some of the best educators in the world. Even though the student body has proven their intellectual capacity to gain entrance to this University, it is amazing how often they seem to act completely idiotic. One of the worst things to hear is someone bitching about their professors and going on to say how they do not even enjoy what they are learning. If you do not like Accounting or English or whatever other major you painfully pursue, do not blame the professors – blame yourself. Not all BU professors are academic gems, but the vast majority are. If you do not already appreciate our professors, please start.

With fear of sounding like a spineless promoter of Boston University, I now must point to an aspect of this school’s expansive bureaucracy that actually helps us, the students. This University is not just overwhelming a corner of Boston, it is also spreading into foreign countries – the benefits of which are amazing international programs that attract students from all over the country. And for good reason. Anybody who spends a semester in London (my personal bias), Sidney, Dresden, Italy or Oxford will tell you the amazing experience it provides. An experience that Boston University gives its students and strengthens by creating smart program structures overseas. This basically means the University tells you to have fun first and worry about academics afterward. It may sound far-fetched, but it happens.

Finally, there are some little things that need to be recognized. As tormenting as our BU IDs are when those annoying scanners in dorms flash red, they hold Convenience Points, which are, well – very convenient. Understandably, convenience points force us to become patrons of overpriced vendors at the George Sherman Union and CampCo, but it is a small price that our parents pay for our convenience.

You would imagine the money hungry administrators to exploit college drinking-expenditures by allowing Convenience Points to buy alcohol at the BU Pub. I suppose the hypocrisy of profiting off seniors’ drinking tabs in light of the tough stance taken on underage drinking was evident to the administrators. This however does not stop any of-age student with the ability to see a good thing from relaxing at the pub. The BU pub is praise-worthy, it places alcohol alongside our academic institutions and thus inherently suggests the University’s willingness to acknowledge at least one quarter of its students as independent and responsible adults.

The system is not perfect, but is our constant criticism going to change this. If students were really intent on changing policies, my advice is to adopt the old slogan, “when you can’t beat them, join them.” Who will take their education and apply it to restructuring policies at this school? Who among us will be the next President Westling or Chancellor Silber? Will any of us care what happens here after we graduate? This University provides each student with a world-class education. Of course it is unlikely that many students will give a damn about guest policies once they graduate, which is probably why old men like Silber stay in charge for so long. The point is that for all our bitching and whining, we should thank this University for providing, among other things, an education that will make us as powerful as the authorities we despise. It may be difficult to see this now, but for all its flaws, this University succeeds at providing a higher education that will benefit all of us.