op-ed
When my step-dad was in college, he and his friends would find themselves at Denny’s late at night discussing complex, controversial topics. Discussions about abortion, the death penalty and assisted suicide would become heated as they each defended their opinion.
Dear RIT, students, staff and faculty, Have you noticed when grabbing something from Sol’s Underground here at RIT how ridiculous the prices are? Handing them your last $20 bill for a little amount of food that may not even last for the week is very common for some students.
“Gah! This cup of grapes costs $10, and it is so small! I can find a large bag of grapes for half the price!” This is what I saw a student say in the Commons. The general idea of going to college can be too much of a burden on a student’s wallet already. The cost of food alone is a whole other story.
“I want to be a sign language interpreter.” Like many students, I started college with a set path. I’d take my courses, get my sign language interpreting degree and spend the rest of my life working in the field that I had my heart set on since eighth grade.
Many people go to school to get an education and learn how to balance their time, budget, homework, friends and family. Some people can handle those big responsibilities, while some people struggle to handle the burden.
“I only got five hours of sleep last night.” “You think that’s bad? I only got two!” Almost daily, I overhear conversations like this where people are glorifying a lack of sleep. They are competing with each other to see who is the most stressed and who has the most unhealthy behavior.
There was a night at the end of last semester when the wall holding my worries back collapsed — and with it, so did I. Tears streamed down my face as anxious thoughts consumed me — I wouldn’t finish my assignments on time, I wouldn’t succeed in my new role as Editor in Chief, I wouldn’t get through ongoing family drama, I wouldn’t get past the emotional stress fueled by negative thoughts and self-doubts.
When I first arrived at RIT, I was a gangly, acne-ridden, 18-year-old fresh off the plane from Oregon. Tired of small-school life, I had chosen the biggest college on my list and moved across the country. I was convinced settling in would be a breeze. It didn’t exactly happen that way. For those first several months, I was horribly, crushingly homesick.
Hi, I’m Frankie, and I spent the last year as Editor in Chief of Reporter, and the last four years as a student at RIT. In that year, and in those four years, I have been aware of, part of and impacted by an array of issues and events that have shaped this community. There have been times where we should have raised our voices in response, and times when we did not quite know how to react.
Recently, we have all become aware of how necessary it is for us as a community to raise our voice and speak up for what we believe in and deserve.. I’m sure you can immediately think of a few recent instances — from class cancellations to healthcare. It is our mission at Reporter to aid in that necessity as the student voice on campus. But you — the students, faculty and staff of RIT — must speak up to us as well.
Last semester, Lambda Phi Epsilon and RIT’s College Activities Board worked together to co-sponsor a campus screening of the Crazy Rich Asians movie. Topping as the #1 best selling film in the box office for its opening weekend and winning the Critic’s Choice Award for Best Comedy of 2018, this movie’s success built an elevating platform for the Asian American community to see increased representation in mainstream media.
Doctor Munson,
The culture we experience in college life binds us to an environment that constantly puts our mental health at risk — more than we may sometimes like to admit. This culture is incredibly toxic.
When promises are made in response to dire needs, there is often a tendency to sit back and congratulate ourselves on an accomplished objective. We fought; they promised to fix things; we stopped. There is also another tendency however, for promises to be made — and not fulfilled, or for progress to be unacceptably slow.
Jamil Khashoggi died after engaging in a brawl, California firefighters should fight fires with rakes and an RIT student fell to his death on Halloween evening. Do you believe any one of these examples of “fake news?” You shouldn’t. In Washington, we have journalists to keep administrators honest. On campus, without the Reporter, we have no one to do so.
Dear RIT Administration, We are all members of RIT’s community: tens of thousands of people who live and work on this campus in a brick city that we call home. We are, in essence, citizens of this city. As citizens, we deserve to know more about the decisions and processes that impact our school, our home and our lives.
This op-ed was written before RIT's latest press release on Nov. 5, 2018. RIT, I am a recent graduate and I wanted to share my experiences and great disappointment at what is happening at the school.
Many of us have our lives planned out — sketched into a mental map of our future, with all its goals and ambitions. Path and plan are our translation of the future and all it may be. It’s an odyssey — journeying through college, sailing along with the voyage of life. It feels as if you are at the helm, captain of the ship, free of strife.
You've arrived — the pin on the map, your next destination. You arrived but a few weeks ago, or perhaps a few years ago. Maybe you have since settled in. Maybe you dove in and haven’t settled since.
Welcome to RIT. In four or five short years, you will leave this place, like I just have, and RIT will try to take advantage of that. Now, don't get me wrong, RIT is a wonderful school and a great place to learn. But it is also plagued with bureaucratic bullshit that will make mistakes, make promises and then conveniently forget about them when the majority of students have moved on.
Folks tell me I get too excited about Work People Jokes Happenstance. They’d rather a temperament more temperate. There’s nothing memorable about a being So balmy. Gusts knock us off our feet, so should gesture With gusto. There’s no thrill in a game played on easy, and I don't want to be a weepy wanderer. I want to enjoy, really Enjoy
I have been too quiet at times. I have actively chosen to be a passive member of the communities and organizations I am part of. There have been moments when I have held my tongue and kept myself from contributing to the conversation. I am not proud of that. I have also said too much. I have walked into encounters with only one direction in mind. I have not always been so empathetic to the opinions of others. I am certainly not proud of that either.
This is an essay regarding my perception of a personal hero, and how a short article by Neil Strauss changed it for the better.