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I have just learned from a Coe alumni that this is not a new process. Two years ago, when he was on the graduating class gift committee, they were faced with the same situation. This keeps getting better and better. Something needs to change and I don’t know if and how I can do anything about it. If anyone has any ideas… let me know.

I’m so fed up with my school that I can barely stand it. For all the administration’s claims that it is vital for our alumni to be active and contribute, they are sure doing a great job of making me never want to talk to them again. It seems that every time I turn around my autonomy and ownership of my actions is brought into question and second guessed.

Most recently my problem is with our tradition of a Senior Gift. I think it is a great idea to be able to give back to the school and leave our mark as a graduating class. But I disagree with how the process was handled this year. In years past, a committee of senior students got together to discuss ideas for the gift and then the options were voted on by the senior class. This year the committee met and was handed a list of appropriate gifts by the administration to choose between.

This is not a gift. A wonderful tradition has been turned into a forgone conclusion to help with the schools budget problems. The senior gift is an opportunity for the senior class to give back in an area that it thinks could use help. This year the tradition has been wrenched out of the control of the students, the future leaders of the world, and dictated to us based on what would look the best on the alumni records.

I can’t even really begin to understand why this has made me as angry as it has. A lot of the problem is that this is just one more small step in a long line of administration choices that seem to have very little to do with my interests or desires. College is educating this generation, but they need to be more careful with what they are teaching. From the lips of every administrator come ideals and ideologies about training students to think, be independent, and be in control of their world. But why even espouse this empty ideology if your actions say “Shut up, sit down, and let the adults figure this out.”

I just got an interesting note in my mailbox this morning. One of my past coworkers has just set out on a fantastic trip and he is going to be writing about it nearly every day on his website:

What? Here we were, running from canine cannibalism, dung-covered cows, screaming monkeys, packs of overinterested men, beggars limping on stubs, irritating non-stop sales pitches, and—worst of all—our imagination of thugs and thieves. And here, in the midst of all that mayhem, was a happy Indian family who wanted nothing more than to sit us down and feed us and ask us questions and probably take us their home afterwards. It was too much to take; I nearly started crying on the spot. http://www.indiabybike.com

Sean and his wife have been traveling around India for the past couple weeks, and they are planning on being there for another 2 or 3 months. I’ve been enjoying reading it so far and I can’t wait to see where else they will go.