If one wants to change the world, it cannot be done by talk alone. Talking about it is just one step, but action is where the answer lies in making ideas reality.
Minority students and other university leaders met Monday evening in the Union Ballroom for an annual town hall meeting to discuss important issues concerning MSU’s minority community.
The main topics addressed Monday evening included low numbers of black faculty and staff members, concerns about MSU’s poor minority retention rates, the Task Force on Student-Police Relations, the lack of MSU’s undergraduate student government funding for the Black Celebratory and feelings about biased and incomplete coverage of minority issues in The State News.
For the most part, many items on the discussion agenda were the same as they’ve been in past years.
But the same issues shouldn’t continue to be discussed. Changes need to be made.
It is important that issues of concern are voiced and discussed at the annual meeting. But it’s also important that those issues are not forgotten in the aftermath of vital discussions.
These meetings are a first step toward changing MSU for the better as far as minority issues are concerned. But they are not the only step.
If the leaders who show up to discussions time after time want to make a change, they need to rally the support of those who haven’t been attending such events and raise awareness of the issues.
A great leader only can do so much alone. These student leaders need to mobilize the people on this campus to believe in their causes and take action. It takes more than one person to change the world.
The disappointing thing about the town hall meeting and many similar events is the majority of those present are often upperclassmen or graduating seniors. It is crucial to educate underclassmen and rally their support for these issues.
They will be the ones to carry the torch once the upperclassmen graduate.
If no one reaches out and gets the young people on campus excited enough about these concerns to fight for the cause, then town hall discussions such as Monday’s will continue to be the same year after year.
It is fairly simple to be a voice of change on this campus. One just has to want to be. For example, it takes little effort to walk up to MSU President M. Peter McPherson or any other university official on campus when you see them, introduce yourself and say what you want to about an important issue.
Or write a letter to The State News to voice your opinion to campus.
Talk is good. But actions speak louder.
We hope some action is taken to help improve the campus community during the next year concerning some of the issues addressed Monday.
We hope next year’s meeting is not a repeat of the same unresolved issues.
