Dinner and Government

April 24, 1998

By Morgan Carlson

Tara's dinner party is officially (well, semi-officially) scheduled for
6:30 at the Lion's Den. Everyone meet at good ol' 1405 Enterprise at
that time - unless you don't go to Hofstra, which is an excuse for
skipping. Any Hofstra person who skips is considered a Family traitor
and will be evicted promptly from all Family outings, and will be shunned
whenever we see them on campus. (Insert evil cackle here.) Oh, I'm
kidding.
I just read the Chronicle, and I couldn't stop laughing. All of the
people running for Class Government positions were running unopposed, and
nobody even bothered to run for Treasurer of the Class of 2000, my year.
Right now, if I wanted to, I could walk down to the Student Center and
become Treasurer of my graduating class. However, the same thing that
keeps everyone else from running is keeping me from grabbing the position:
1) It's extra work and cuts into my free time.
2) College student political positions have about as much power as a
postal clerk.
3) Being associated with a lame institution.
4) Having my profile in the paper, under the headline: "This Guy Fucked
Up Our Budget."

Why don't people give a fuck about student government? Apathy can't be
the reason.... even in the laziest communities, there are always plenty
of people who want to rule.
I blame Hofstra and other educational institutions - and this applies to
every school I've seen - for making a phony, figurehead government and then
trying to get kids excited about it. It's like selling phony china,
cubic zirconia or Triple-A baseball - who wants a cheap imitation?
Most Hofstra kids probably feel insulted by the whole thing. Not a
single one of us believes that any real decisions are made by us kids...
they're made by a roomful of white guys in expensive suits who probably
haven't been in college for 20 years. I understand why - do you want
those beer guzzling drones down at Hofstra USA voting over your tuition
money? Still, it all seems so futile.
I genuinely believe that there are smart, politically motivated folk
here at Hofstra... and they could probably do some cool stuff for us
students. But the administration wouldn't trust them, and neither would
the parents that pay the bills. *Sigh.*
So do what I do - ignore the whole matter and download some
pornography. Smut! Smut! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!
- Morgan -

ecent.