You went to bed early last night. Your alarm goes off at 8:30 AM, and you feel refreshed, well rested, and ready to start a new day. And then you pick up your iPhone to see that you have 18 emails to go through. Most of them are junk: the Daily Candy’s “What Your Drink Says About You,” Nordstrom’s “Free Shipping Alert,” Regina M. Ouimette’s “Message From Security” (kill me, winter parking ban), Roger Woolsey’s “JanPlan Internship Deadline” (even though you already signed up for a class), and ah…the Civil Discourse. A Colby Classic.
When I studied abroad last semester, I loved reading the Civil Discourse. It made me feel like I knew what was going on at Colby even though I wasn’t there. Of course I talked to my friends on campus via Skype, email, and Facebook, but few of our conversations revolved around the latest lectures, protests, a cappella concerts, or improv shows. My friends who went to other schools were jealous that I could tell them something that was happening on campus on any given day, like “Spike Lee is at Colby today!” I didn’t realize that not all schools have Civil Discourses or even General Announcements every day.
Occasionally, the Civil Discourse can be entertaining. For instance, I drove an underclassman home for Fall Break. We were talking about things we love about Colby, and she said something like, “I love how the Discourse is blowing up. It’s so entertaining.” Many times, I couldn’t agree more. I remember last year when Bro gave the football team money to buy a new bell; it’s a tradition that they ring the bell whenever they win a game. Around the same time, the Chapel started ringing a different bell every hour. Some Colby students didn’t like the bell waking them up in the morning or interrupting them in class. And some mixed up the football bell with the chapel bell, and it turned into a big fiasco over absolutely nothing. I LOVED it. My friends and I would do dramatic readings of people’s complaints, and it was hilarious. People were putting so much energy into issues that wouldn’t even get attention in the local newspaper.
But recently, I’ve gotten frustrated with the content of the Discourse. And I’d like to make it clear that it’s the content, not the idea of the Discourse. As I said, the Discourse is an important part of Colby for me. But lately, a lot of posts have been related to Bob Diamond as the President of the Board of Trustees and how it is dishonorable to Colby’s mission to have such a figure as our leader. Some students and members of Occupy Augusta have organized protests outside the Diamond building to stand up for what they think is right and demand change. I think they’ve got the right idea with speaking their minds, but I don’t necessarily agree with their cause.
My friends and I have talked about how we are the so-called “Silent Generation” because we’ve had everything given to us, and we don’t stand up for anything. And I can understand that this is frustrating for some people when we look back at how our parents and grandparents shaped our society so much. So how do we reconcile with this?
For me, if there was a cause I felt strongly about, I would like to think that I would stand up and do something. And this opportunity to stand up and demand change has been given to me on a silver platter, in the form of the Civil Discourse.
But I don’t agree with the cause. I support Diamond as the President of the Board of Trustees. Why? Because he has done so much for our school that I appreciate.
I can’t bring myself to criticize philanthropy. There’s no arguing that the money Diamond donated to Colby for the Diamond Building (which the College needed), gave Colby the opportunity to utilize its resources for other important causes, like financial aid. For example, Colby recently started a “Grant Only” financial aid policy, meaning that the College will not leave its students with massive amounts of debt upon graduation. Who knows if we would be able to do this if generous alumni didn’t fund our other needs like classroom and office space? I don’t think that this is an issue worth fighting, because the name of a building is so unimportant in the grand scheme of things. We should focus our energy on things that can make our College better.
That said, I don’t think I’ll ever stop loving the Discourse. It’s interesting to learn what people whom I might not interact with on a daily basis are thinking and talking about. Plus, it gives me a great laugh every once in a while.