Letter: Nate Cochran on “Pay Attention to Your Government”

Dear editor:

How depressing is it that when the student senate or the college administration announces a change in policy or that a certain activity will be carried out, it gets railroaded unopposed? What does it say about our community when you can ask nearly anyone on the street, student or not, and they will voice strong opposition to the political goings-on of this institution, but that these activities we oppose still keep happening right before our eyes?

What does it say about how useful each of us is to society, when The Eagle needs to publish an editorial telling readers to actually BE the change they are looking for within student government? Is the Gen Y ‘slactivism’ mentioned in last week’s editorial that strong among us? Are we so jaded by national-level politics that we assume we can’t change anything on the local level?

We are all adults here. The fact that our school newspaper needs to tell us how to conduct politics appears to be a sign for me: we all need to grow up. We have democracy drummed into us from the earliest parts of our education. If we make it through high school and still don’t know how to voice an opinion through the proper channels, how to run for positions in senate to create the change we and our fellow students are looking for, what will it be like when our generation is the voting majority in national politics?

Chadron has a population of less than ten thousand. The CSC student body is a third of that. This is not the arena of hundreds of millions that makes up a presidential election. One person absolutely can make an impression on a significant percentage of the people in this community. I admit, I’m probably doing my part in the aforementioned slactivism by shouting angry words at my computer screen instead of at student senate meetings. Let me try to redeem myself…

If you are reading this letter and you are angry about something (or everything) the student senate has done, don’t just say nasty things and move on. Find someone who agrees with you. Track down a senator and let them know that you’re pissed off and let them know why. Go to the meetings and voice your objections to policy changes you disagree with. They have no problem ignoring what you think if you only moan to your friends, who moan to their friends. They can’t ignore it if a dozen students show up one day and actually voice opposition.

What is wrong with this country is not pigheaded politicians. It is apathetic voters. We are what is wrong. Let’s change that together.

—Nate Cochran, former student