Why do many students at Boston University take themselves so seriously? In Alexandra Fol’s letter “Crossing behavior border,” she criticizes Casey Schreiner’s Feb. 14 column as a work of serious newswriting. Having experience as an international student, I understand that one can miss irony in a foreign language. But I doubt Schreiner actually expects Chancellor John Silber to attack alumni in a tank with flying monkeys, just as Justin Aclin is not actually an imp, as he states in “Impin’ ain’t easy” on Feb. 15. I had a class with him; he’s a relatively normal BU student, except for the fact that he can laugh at himself. What a rare gift!
Through the years, there have been numerous letters about apathy at BU. The real problem is lack of coherence on campus. Take a look at the BU Band. These people are obsessed with performing, but the most outside attention they’ve received has to do with the “Eat ‘Em Up” cheer at hockey games. Take a look at the BU Anime Club. These people meet Friday nights to devour hours of Japanese animation, but unless you know someone in it, or are in it yourself, you probably have no idea what I’m referring to. Look at the numerous RHAs and peer advising programs on campus. These people plan event after event in order to broaden the college experience for their peers, but their events are plagued by low attendance. What these groups all have in common is members take themselves and their organizations too seriously. Band members are too concerned about missing the next basketball game to attend an a cappella concert (unless a fellow band member is in it). Anime Club members are too busy preparing for the next week’s meeting and watching as much anime as possible to email a Student Union representative. RHA members and peer advisors are too wrapped up in their programming to think of writing a column for The Freep.
In other words: take a vacation from Planet Me. Turn off your cell phones. Skip class on Tuesday and go to a Food for Thought lecture and discussion. Miss a weekly meeting and see Stage Troupe or the Athena Players. Go visit the Wellness Center, just because. Get involved by realizing that your involvements are not the only ones here at BU.
This is an account occasionally used by the Daily Free Press editors to post archived posts from previous iterations of the site or otherwise for special circumstance publications. See authorship info on the byline at the top of the page.
