Acorn

Issue date: 2/1/08 Section: Opinion

Media Credit: Merion Read

I can confess something: No matter how much I may complain about having to do so, I really like putting up fliers and posters for organizations and events.

I find it to be an enjoyable opportunity for getting to know students I may have never met otherwise while promoting something that I care very deeply about.

What I have found out on my rounds is that somewhere along the line, an urban legend started to circulate that Drew University is an apathetic campus. This rumor is decades old. Last year, while researching for an event outlining the history of student activism at Drew, I came across the headline "Has Drew activism died?" on front page of a 1982 edition of The Acorn.

For the record, Drew activism is alive and well.  

We just need to open our minds to what we define as activism.  

I won't lie. I am a fan of demonstrations and rallies when the time is appropriate. However, there are many other avenues to activism. Here at Drew, we see students trying to make the world a better place in many different ways everyday.   

I won't list all the avenues, and I won't tell you about which avenue of activism I think is the best.

There is no best avenue. I can't tell you how to be an activist-you are your own activist. Different approaches reach different people. Still, I have a few pointers on how to successfully go about trying to change things on our campus. Don't measure success by numbers.

Just because 200 people don't show up to your event or meeting, it does not mean that no one was affected by it.

So long as the people at the event were changed for the better, the event was successful.  

Don't let failure get you down-an event or initiative that draws a lot of criticism or completely flops is not the end of the world. Take a bad situation and learn to use it to create something better down the line.  

Make use of The Acorn-The students on The Acorn work hard to provide us with a paper that represents what our campus is up to.  So go ahead and reach out to them if you want to get the word out on something.  

Pay no attention to your "reputation" around campus-if you choose to put yourself out there, people who don't know you will choose to say things about you.

When this happens, remember that the fact that individuals are talking about you suggests that they do, in some way, care about the issues you are tackling. Instead of wasting your time defending yourself, show them who you really are by reaching out to them.  

Continued...

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