Maybe it’s because I’m a political science major, but one of my favorite things about Macalester is how informed the students are about politics and current events in general. In the library you can always find students reading the newspaper or reading the news online. In class, current events are often related to the course material, and outside of class politics is discussed just as enthusiastically.

So I was a little disappointed the other day when I encountered a great deal of ignorance about the way Macalester runs during a discussion in one of my political science classes. As I listened to different members of my group complain about their personal problems with the school, I found myself arguing with each of them, and ended up feeling not only like a cranky old woman, but also like a huge administration brownnoser.

Particularly, there were complaints about money allocation. When I pressed further, however, many of those complaining in fact knew nothing about how money is actually allocated. So I asked, as a good Mac Weekly Editor-in-Chief should, if the student had read the article about the budget problems a couple of weeks ago. You know, the one that was on the front page? No, the person in question sure hadn’t. And besides pissing me off as the editor of the paper, it pissed me off as a Macalester student. The complainer had problems with budget allocation but had not made any effort to learn about the problem, not even reading the newspaper article about it.

One of the things I have talked about in many of my U.S. politics classes is, again, the general population’s lack of participation and lack of knowledge about politics and current events domestically as well as internationally. This ignorance and lack of involvement civically is a problem for a functioning democracy, which requires participation of the governed.

If you consider Macalester to be a democracy (which I would, because of the ample opportunity students have to voice their opinions and participate in college decisions), it could perhaps be seen as a microcosm of the U.S. system. In that case, Macalester students are no better informed than U.S. citizens about their governmental organization. Both U.S. citizens and Macalester students complain heartily (see also Emily Wiggins’ article in the Oct. 3 issue) about their respective system of governance. Macalester students criticize U.S. citizens for not keeping informed about issues, for relying on personality and rhetoric to make their voting decisions, or for not voting but still complaining. Macalester students do the same, while criticizing others for similar behavior. Students complain voraciously about whatever problem is personally affecting them. Often it is lack of funding or administrative support for their particular, often very specific, interest. Upon further questioning, however, they do not really know how resources are allocated, how to go about getting more resources or why they might not have the resources they desire.

When my classes have discussed the nationwide problem of lack of political participation we, of course, discuss solutions as well. One that always occurs to me as the most feasible and cost-effective is to mandate more civic or democratic education at some level of schooling. Already, there is some sort of government/civics class required in high school, but perhaps a class that emphasized the importance of actual participation and civic engagement at all levels of government— which would go beyond just the three branches of government—would be a good start. However, when I think about the problem of students’ unawareness and apathy about actual change at Macalester, applying a similar solution seems absurd. Mandate a class for all Macalester students about the structure of the college, where the power is located, who controls the money and resources, and how to access some of those resources and those channels of power to effect change? It sounds ridiculous, and it is. One key difference between Macalester and the U.S. government is that citizens generally live in the United States for their entire lives, while the general tenure for Macalester students is four years. A class just makes more sense when it pertains to U.S. government.

One solution to the problem might be through task forces and committees. There are generally two or three students on each of these committees, who I imagine are intended to represent all students. However, it seems that the students on these committees are often very involved on campus, which is how they got onto the committee or task force in the first place. Instead of their intense involvement making these students more involved or aware of their fellow students’ opinions and desires, it seems to makes them less aware. Running an organization (in my opinion) makes one more inclined to sympathize with those who run the college, not the students who are affected by these changes.

At the very least, these students should be more accountable to the general student body. Perhaps there should be a different way of student representation on these committees. Or maybe that wouldn’t help—maybe students will just be apathetic and will complain no matter what. Is it important for students to be involved in decision-making and change at Macalester? I think so. Is it feasible? Maybe not.