Your Aggie Advocate: angry, pot-stirring, disgruntled student
Since I’ve been writing these columns, I’ve been told I’m a lot of things. I’ve been told I’m angry and mad. I’ve been told I like stirring the pot and making problems bigger than they really are. I’ve been told I’m simply a disgruntled student who needs to lighten up. It’s been interesting to get that kind of feedback, and I have a response for all of you who feel that way.
Advocacy starts with understanding. If people don’t understand the issues facing students, then things will never change. If no one ever speaks up about the issues, no one will ever hear about the issues. If issues are never discussed and debated, they will never be solved. Change and improvement requires a dialogue, and my goal this year with this column has been to start that dialogue.
Often I get the feeling people think I’m simply looking for things to criticize. Those people are wrong. I’m not looking for things to criticize; I’m looking for areas where we can improve. I’m looking for improvements that will make the student experience better in any aspect of student life.
Of course, there have been a few people who don’t like the issues to be discussed and don’t like questions to be asked, likely because they just don’t want to deal with any extra work. That’s fine, but it will never stop me from asking questions. Like I mentioned earlier, advocacy requires understanding and if I don’t understand something, I will ask questions about it. To those of you out there who feel that way, don’t be the jerk who doesn’t answer simply because you’re stuck in your ways. Don’t be a part of the problem; be a part of the solution.
I have appreciated the dialogue I’ve had this year with many officials at USU. Just this last week I met with staff from the Risk Management and Parking and Transportation offices to discuss what could be done about the risk that the Aggie Shuttle mirrors present to students, all because of the column I wrote here. They agreed with me that it was a problem and are looking at what can be done to hedge against the risk that exists there. I truly appreciated how genuine they were and how willing they were to help find a solution to a simple concern.
There are many issues students face that I don’t see. Please let me know if you have something I can assist you with or start a dialogue about. I can’t promise immediate solutions or drastic results, but I can promise questions will be asked and the effort will be put in to getting answers. Please feel free to email me any time at studentadvocate@usu.edu to bring up issues or to send potential column topics.
Casey Saxton, a senior majoring in business administration and marketing, serves as the student advocate vice president for the USU Student Association. He can be reached in TSC 340, by email at studentadvocate@usu.edu or on Twitter at @AggieAdvocate.