The past few weeks on campus have been filled with occurrences like the chalk writing of “Trump 2016” all over campus, a petition (with various spelling mistakes) written and signed against the debate and of course, new construction starting. Now I understand that people have a plethora of feelings about these topics, and I do too, that’s okay. What’s not okay is not respecting other people’s views.
As I spoke to students on campus about these topics, I heard so many different voices. First, people were so angry with the infamous “chalking” because they realized that there are people on campus who support Donald Trump. Now, I am not a Trump fan either and seeing that on campus also made my soul cringe, but we have to learn that people will have other views, and they will act on them in certain ways. Whoever did that obviously has respect for Trump and, while I may not feel the same way as them, I still have to respect their views. They are a fellow human being, and they deserve that.
Now onto the petition… This gets me heated. As I read through it and my blood started to boil (I love the fact that the debate will be on campus), I took a second and evaluated where the student would have been coming from. I understand that not every student is involved with our school on the same level I am, and so that may lead to them having less knowledge about what is really happening for the debate. Instead of writing a completely confused and grammatically incorrect petition, they should have talked to faculty members or their peers that are involved with the debate. If they did this, everything could have been cleared up for them, and maybe then the petition would not have come into existence. Even though I feel this way, I still respect their feelings.
Next onto construction. I get it – it’s really annoying. Though, complaining about it will literally do nothing. President Reveley and the faculty have worked so hard on all of these plans, and it’s just a part of what happens when a school grows. Even if you do not agree with what is happening on campus, it is still necessary for you to respect the hard work people have put into planning this.
As citizen leaders of this amazing university, I just want to remind everyone that no matter how we may be feeling about all of these hot topics on campus we need to regard people with an open mind. Too many times around campus I have heard people completely shut someone down because they do not agree with them. This is not okay at all. If we are true citizen leaders, we will work to remain open-minded, and even if we do not agree with someone’s opinions, we should still take the time to listen to why they feel the way they do. This way, we can learn a lot about not only them but why we feel the way we do as well.
