Jamie Lutz won the SGA presidential election last week, but as overly-dramatic WFSE radio host Andy Alm tells us in this broadcast, no one really cares about the election results. That’s because nobody here cares about anything.
At least that’s the general consensus. A few times a year, at least, The Spectator will get a letter to the editor about how sad it is that students at Edinboro are so apathetic. And while it may be true that most of us aren’t overly enthused about anything related to campus, I don’t think it’s without good reason.
Last year’s SGA election, as I said before, was a huge mess. But one of the most surprising events to come out of the whole situation was the largest number of voters in an SGA election ever. Ever! But Zelechowski, along with her cabinet of BFFs, stamped out any passion that existed in the brief moment when nearly 500 people cared about what happened with their student activity fees. All extinguished because of a stubborn girl who loves being the boss. Now, only 62 people (total) voted in the election. That’s it.
So, Andy Alm, when you’re out in the field asking students whether or not they voted, and they laugh in your face and say “No!”, you should really ask them why they don’t care about student government. I bet they could tell you exactly why. And I really don’t blame them.
Who’s going to be startled by an article about apathy, anyway?
April 17, 2009 at 10:46 am |
Wow… 62? Unbelievable. I’ll be graduating in May and I have never voted in the SGA elections. I’ve been involved in very little with the school. I guess what it comes down to is that I’m not proud to be an Edinboro alum. I’m not going to sport an Edinboro t-shirt when I move away. I’m not going to come back for the homecomings. I’m not going to donate money to the school (nor would I, if I ever came into a lot of cash).
While I don’t know Zelechowski personally – she may be a swell gal, I honestly have no clue – she had no business being SGA President. She did nothing progressive and the stuff she did do was a huge step in the wrong direction. The fact that she was in charge of so much that goes on and so much money and was able to get away with it is precisely why I have no school pride in Edinboro.
April 18, 2009 at 1:13 pm |
Yeah, 62. Isn’t that insane?
Also I have a hunch Zelechowski isn’t the nicest person in the world
April 20, 2009 at 10:36 am |
I don’t believe in apathy. I think Edinboro largely attracts uninspired students. For whatever reason, they weren’t inspired to do particularly well in high school, but college is the thing to do after high school, and Edinboro took them in. Edinboro sure as hell doesn’t do anything to inspire them while enrolled, either. Edinboro only enables the behavior by epically failing to challenge and support its students.
There is NO connection to the university because students aren’t proud to be there. They feel like they are paying $12k/year for an educational consolation prize. If only they had money or better grades – they could go to Gannon or Penn State! Actually, by allowing students to go home every weekend and offering little support or any programming of value after 5pm (when all the employees head home – nearly every one with a union contract that says they can’t work after 5pm without overtime or paid time off) – nobody knows anything or cares about anything. Top 10 wrestling program that is annually on ESPN and in Sports Illustrated, plus this year in USA Today and GQ – nobody cares. Great sports and programs – the place is a ghost town by 3pm Friday.
It is no wonder anyone that remains by 3:30 pm is either already drinking or making plans to do so.
April 20, 2009 at 7:16 pm |
That’s an interesting theory, but while a lot of us might think of Edinboro as a “consolation prize”, Slippery Rock and IUP are both schools people generally think of as second rate (or third or fourth). Those schools don’t seem to exhibit the same apathy we do. Maybe I’m wrong. There’s definitely not one right answer to the whole situation. I think you’re on to something.
April 29, 2009 at 3:16 pm |
Who cares.
April 30, 2009 at 1:44 pm |
derk!
May 1, 2009 at 4:42 pm |
Wow, it’s not that I am surprised to see bad attitudes reinforce to generate even more apathy, but you guys have the big picture all wrong, or mostly so.
Edinboro is a really good school that enables students with good attitudes to earn a great (and competitive in the real world) education. Stop misleading yourselves that the one of the key characteristics a good university is how well they spoon feed you. In case you haven’t figured it out yet, successful people are self-motivated and self-inspired to create opportunities for themselves (and others), and Edinboro is a very good facility for that.
“I’m not proud to be an Edinboro alum”, “educational consolation prize”, “second rate (or third or fourth)”…..these are the words of, well, losers with poor attitudes. You’re not proud to be an Edinboro alum because you are not proud of yourself. You ripped yourself off (hopefully just temporarily) because you didn’t get all you could from the opportunities that were right in front of your nose, so yes, your education is a consolation, and as a result not that big of a prize. Wanna guess what (or especially who; but again hopefully just for the moment) is second, third, or fourth rate?
The old saying that one’s attitude is reflected back to you by others is very, VERY true. Should I say that again?? OK, I’ll spare you that. Maybe if you individually showed even a glimmer of interest in anything, that enthusiasm would be reciprocated in some really nice ways. I mean, who the hell wants to smile at sour grapes?
GREAT NEWS!!!!!!!! It doesn’t have to stay this way. Inspire and motivate yourself. You will be pleasantly surprized at how that will be returned to you. Your University will almost instantly start to invest itself in you. As a result you will receive a high quality education, because you had the initiative to get up off your downer and achieve something worthwhile without somebody holding your hand. Some would say that is the BEST education in the world. I know that it is.
I got a really great education at Edinboro, but I had to go the whole route, including the apathetic. Coming out on the other side, I saw that the professors really know quite a bit what they’re talking about if you get up close and engage with them. It’s fun! And even in a very competitive oil and gas profession; along side graduates from the University of Texas, Texas A&M, Louisiana State University, and even the Colorado School of Mines, I never had a single instance where my education let me down. On top of that I had already “armed” myself with a positive attitude. So to hell with Penn f***in’ State, although I’m sure that’s a fine school as well.
Apathy…you don’t have time for that anymore
May 4, 2009 at 12:42 pm |
Oh, come on, give me a break. I’m not even sure if I can begin to describe the asininity of your rant – but I’ll give it a shot.
The words of unmotivated losers? At the risk of sounding smug, I graduated with the highest honors and have been involved with a sickening amount of extracurricular activities while at EUP. Don’t feed me that unmotivated losers bullshit. It just makes your speech come off as self-righteous and reeking of something out of a Tony Robbins video.
Inspire and motivate yourself? This hand holding nonsense you speak of? You really say absolutely nothing in this rant of yours, nor do you give any defense as to why Edinboro is a great school. I don’t want anybody to hold my hand and I’m about as motivated of a student as they come. This discussion had nothing to do with that. I believe that I wasn’t given the same opportunities to excel though as I would have at another school. It is not as though there aren’t good professors here (there are some real top rate ones – Laythe, Spiller, Hass, to name just a few), but the majority of the ones I have had were PowerPoint dependent and were almost unapproachable outside of class.
I don’t want my hand held. I do want professors that facilitate learning and inspire us as students though. That is what they get paid for, after all – and they get paid pretty well. I do feel that 90% of what I learned at EUP was due to burying my head in my books every night and going that extra mile, whereas that balance should be more around 50/50. Otherwise, what am I paying for?
I also wanted an administration that would bring interesting, world renowned speakers with our money that we pay, instead of shitty comedians that nobody goes to see and bad music acts. On occasion (maybe 2 times a year), this happens at EUP – but at other schools around the state, they are bringing in executives of big companies, renowed scientists, Pulitzer-winning authors, etc. But hey, we did get Dean Kamen this year, right?… ha.
I wanted it to feel like EUP was more of a school community with my interests at heart, rather than a business that takes our money to the bank and shuts down parking lots without offering any sort of alternative parking. Are there some good things about Edinboro? Certainly, there is good and bad at every school, but the bad outweighs the good, in my opinion.
When it comes right down to it though, it was my choice to go here, and I recognize that. I’m not a fool. I don’t see why I can’t expect more out of my university though just as they expect more out of me.
May 1, 2009 at 7:12 pm |
Dang, that was a hell of a speech YOURBORO
May 2, 2009 at 12:34 am |
huh??
May 2, 2009 at 12:45 pm |
Well, you wouldn’t be running this site if you weren’t an engaging sort of dude, so good for you, but I thought I wrote a pretty solid anti-apathy speech two replies ago. No?
May 3, 2009 at 1:07 am |
it absolutely was, I was thinking about just making it it’s own post, so people could see it, and possibly making a counterpoint- or if you’d like, I could make you a user to write whatever you please whenever- since the updates are getting sparse
May 12, 2009 at 8:32 am |
JB: I was writing about APATHY, and the damage it can do to a person. Your academic success to date tells me you do not fall into the apathetic group. Dissatisfied, yes, with how your sense of responsibility has been reciprocated in the form of challenge and support from many of your professors and especially the administration, but you wouldn’t have achieved the results you have if you didn’t care. I wouldn’t be surprised if you are already enrolled in a graduate program somewhere, but by now you would be very aware that the tuition costs for a private school (one that might provide you with the challenge and support you desire) are a boatload more than what Edinboro asks for. I wish you the best as you continue to further your education, wherever that may be.
YOURBORO: I was in transit last week, and I am not a very good texter on a Blackberry, so I apologize for my tardiness getting back to you. I don’t think I need a user account. But I do read here often (I care about what the student community thinks), and every once in awhile throw in my opinion.
May 12, 2009 at 9:13 pm |
Ah alright, just throwing it out there for you in case.
We really appreciate your comments, though!