Student Forum

The other day I went to the student body forum with some of the members of our Paideia group. I’m glad I went. The forum itself was almost useless. The plan given was quite vague and nothing seemed concrete. The presentation was faulty and towards the end they stopped answering questions for lack of time.
However, going to this forum made me realize that I should become more active in school life, even more active in social events in general. Much of this is because I did not like what was proposed in the majority of the plan and I want to do something about it, but it includes more than this as well. It was a political event for something which, until recently, I had thought I had held no political association. In some sense, it redefined Southwestern for me, for it made me a part of it. Obviously this is true as a student, but it goes deeper than simply attending the university. I have always known that there is a lot that I love about Southwestern, whether it is Paideia, the people, or the fact that I can go from physics to philosophy to Latin American History and somehow manage to make connections between them. I value the liberal arts very much and, before going to the forum, I thought it was perhaps an eccentricity of mine. However, I realized that my fellow peers are clearly just as passionate about it as I am if not more so. Moreover, they realize, as I have not up until now, that they should do something about it if they believe in it. It seems like a simple notion to stand up for what you believe in, but I have honestly kept what I love about Southwestern fairly close to my heart. I thought it was something personal that few would understand. I was wrong.
I’d like to write a little bit on the name change because that was an issue covered in the forum that did intrigue me. First of all, even only after spending two years here, I have become close to Southwestern and as so I am somewhat sentimental to the name. If it were able to not be changed, that would be ideal. However, as Dr. G. discussed, colleges often do better financially after they change their name from one which is regionally based, mainly because they gain a reputation and credibility. So, here lies the question. Do you change the name and sacrifice school pride and history in the name of being able to provide more funding and perhaps a better education? Clearly, I think the alumni as well as most of the current students would not like the name to change. In the end I think they have a valid argument. Why not change the name every time the university starts losing money? Because history matters. Especially history as rich as Southwesterns. Changing an identity means something. On the most basic level, it says we are not satisfied with who we are. I feel like the best way to change this is to go within the system and prove Southwestern’s worth from the inside out, not by changing an external name. Just one of these ways is creating a more defined structure for Paideia, honors program or not, even if that means just getting together to discuss a topic over lunch.