Socrates wrote, “If you don’t get what you want, you suffer; if you get what you don’t want, you suffer; even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can’t hold on to it forever. Your mind is your predicament. It wants to be free of change. Free of pain, free of the obligations of life and death. But change is law and no amount of pretending will alter that reality.”

Students at HU are faced with the challenges of what the future holds. In some cases, the innocence of not knowing can be easily confused by making a decision without having the real concrete facts. To study locally and think globally has never been more important in the history of education and at  HU as it is today.  If you do not understand what is happening outside HU’s “safe zones,” you will not be prepared for what history and the future will present. If the truth were told, outside of the construct of this university lays waste to a violent and sometimes corrupt piece of the world that is dead set on wanting to see you fail. But we also need to keep close to those who say they represent us, proving at the end of the day, it is not us as the collective they represent, but are merely puppets in the game playing representation. When the sun sets, it is up to each one of us to push forward individually to make sure the collective moves forward in its rituals and performances of everyone moving towards their personal logical conclusion.

 The students at HU have little to no agency within their own student body due to the lack of solid peer representation. A few weeks ago, I sat patiently in a meeting of the so-called student body representative group. In most scenarios, a group of this caliber would be able to see past their own personal arrogance to get the understanding that HU is a collective; or a mixed bunch, if you will.

 To my shock and dismay, at the April 22 meeting of HU’s student body representative branch, there arose a painstaking thirty-minute-plus discussion to seek approval for an expenditure of “six thousand dollars” to purchase a couch for the game room. For the sake of being rude, I need to repeat it: Six thousand dollars for a couch; six thousand dollars of money that we as students attending HU pay to the university, which is distributed to the many campus operations, departments, student groups, dining services, staff and faculty – not to mention the work study participants. Just comprehending the shocking request presents a surreal reality that something is very wrong and the students that are suppose to represent us are a silo unto themselves.

 But wait…there’s more.

 On  Monday, April 21, an open meeting was held with two HU trustees, Mr. Robert C. Klas, Jr. – chairman, and Nneka Morgan, Trustee along with HU President Linda Hanson. I was sickened at the level of patronization happening in the room of 16 people, including advisors and administrators. Television judge Judith Sheindlin, better known as Judge Judy, wrote the book, “Don’t Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It’s Raining: America’s Toughest Family Court Judge Speaks Out.” In her amazing book, there is a line that reminded me of this meeting, “Do I have stupid written over my forehead?”

Before the Board of Trustees open forum, signs were plastered across campus inviting all students and interested parties to the show. Still, the challenge of attraction to a student representative group remained; only 16 participants showed up. I know there were members of the group in attendance who looked like they just fell off a cabbage truck, but again, this social visit did nothing to make the lives, learning and retention of current HU students any better. While it was great to see HU had trustees who did not look like its athletic department, Morgan filled the room with one too many me statements. Klas, Jr. spoke vaguely, but insisted President Hanson ran the university and their role was a visionary, advisory role.  On the other hand, who can disagree with Santa? President Hanson sat in as merely a gate-keeper.

 It has been over a year since I personally requested to this student body group to investigate and seek out a way to give every undergrad a $100 printing credit per academic year. Members of this group assured me the printing credit issue was being worked on. Meanwhile, in the halls of HU, a new printer system is being installed, as revealed at another representative meeting on April 29. What happened to the printing credit request? Crickets. The money coming in to HU must be good and someone understands there will be no challenge from the student body representation on behalf of the printing credit. In other words, sheeple, lay at my feet. The puppet master will wake you when necessary.

 I know the leadership of this group has no intention of addressing my concerns, nor will they stop cringing when I speak. But the fact remains there is a serious issue when an on-campus student leadership group wants to spend $6000 on a couch for a game room. Just for fun, I visited Slumberland Clearance Center in St. Louis Park. I spoke with the sales manager and told him I had a budget of $6000, and asked him what I could do what that amount. He showed me that with my small budget, I could furnish a three-bedroom home with mid-priced beds, dressers, kitchen tables, dining room tables, chairs with rugs and throw pillows. Then it hit me; if now is the time for college students to experiment and conceptualize, attempting to purchase a couch for that amount of money meant these students probably never had to furnish their own apartment or house. They never had the experience of moving in with nothing and filling a space with the things you really need. What HU class would teach that lesson? Common sense, what a concept.

 At the end of the day, the responsibility of representation falls back on each one of us individually. I understand the dynamics of representation and I also understand that whenever there is any amount of money available, the student body must be addressed first. If this group claims to be representative of the HU student body, then it must recognize that six thousand dollars is enough to provide, for example, 120 – $50 mini-grants to some student at HU, who in fact do go to bed hungry. It is a sick feeling to comprehend, and even more because we’re talking about a prestigious private university like Hamline.

Fortunately, the motion for the couch was struck down and referred back to its original committee.

Seeing and addressing the needs for the few and overlooking the mission for the many is priceless. In the words of James W. Frick, former vice president for public relations, alumni affairs and development at the University of Notre Dame, “Don’t tell me where your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I’ll tell you what they are.”