Who cares about apathy?

Glen Tremblay

One needn’t go further than Thunder Alley to see that student apathy is at an all time high. Our athletes consistently dominate each season, especially our men’s volleyball team, which won the provincial championship in 2007 and then followed up with a silver medal in 2008. And yet our stands aren’t nearly as full as they should be considering their performance. Worse than our apathy towards our athletes, is our apathy towards student politics, something that actually has an impact on our college experience.

For example, last year the Students Association held an election for the position of vice president of the board of directors. Of the 12,269 eligible voters, full-time activity fee paying students, only 5 percent came to vote, roughly 615 students. And we thought that the 52.6 percent that came out for the 2007 Ontario election was poor.

The truth is that each student pays over $300 for activity and student center building fees, and a health and dental plan, which can be refunded. That equals to roughly $2 million; do you know how that money is spent?

Many students in fact don’t know how that money is spent, and which services and facilities are available to them. Free resume printing, faxing, and countless events around campus are just a few examples. The Observatory, which provides a wide variety of excellent acts and shows as well as good food and drinks, goes unappreciated far too often. These are some of the best years of our lives, and many of us aren’t making the best of it.

There are many opportunities to get involved and more than enough exciting events coming up. All it takes is keeping an eye and ear open and you’ll notice that you’ll finally be getting your money’s worth.