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Printer-Friendly ModeStudent apathy discussed
February 27, 2006 —
The stereotypical college student: hung-over, shaggy hair, and looks like he doesn't care about anything going on around him. This halfhearted outlook on campus life is a growing problem at many universities around the nation, and a lack of student involvement has resulted.
This growing problem was the topic of discussion during Wednesday night's "Pathology of Apathy" presentation by Bob Hall.
Hall's main goal in his presentation was to both show campus leaders how to get the seemingly endless number of apathetic students to participate and improve the overall rapport in our campus community.
"How do you get people here involved?" Hall asked the students in the audience. The seemingly general answer among the attendees was that unless something is provided to the students, they won't go. Basically, bribing them with pizza and pop is the only way to draw anyone into any type of extra-curricular activity.
"Apathy, how does it happen?" Hall questioned early on in his presentation.
"People around campus don't get involved because they don't know what it can do for them," Hall said, answering his own question. Hall cited many reasons that students don't get involved, including busy home life and technology (Facebook, MySpace, etc.), but the main reason he cited was fear. Many students, Hall said, are hesitant to get involved with clubs and other social activities because they fear they will under perform in their tasks.
This fear, he said, is often ostracized by students' peers.
"People need to feel safe and have an environment in which they are better able to participate without fear of failure," he said.
Hall added that students believe they won't get a fair shake, fear elitism, and feel they won't be accepted into a group who has already formed a solid rapport amongst themselves.
"One place apathy comes from is submission before action," he explained.
Throughout the night, it became apparent that the student body at SVSU isn't as "active" as they are on other campuses. Along with the topics covered by Hall, this may also be because of the large number of commuter students that attend SVSU.
But this is not to say we aren't moving in the right direction, says Tony Thomson director of the Students Counseling Center.
"I can remember when we celebrated 5-10 people going to an event," he said at the event. "Take note of the progress we have made and pat yourselves on the back."