New year an excellent time for last push improvements

By Amanda Melchor     1/8/09 6:00pm

With the spring semester beginning comes the return of fickle weather the reluctant return to studying and drudgery, and an ardent pursuit of cheap textbooks. But underneath this simple and routine facade lies a somewhat mundane and repetitive but very relevant detail. The most significant distinction the spring semester has over its autumnal counterpart is the fresh start for all involved and the potential benefits this new beginning can contribute to our university. The spring semester is a great way to truly bring about change to campus since it signifies a more communal student experience. The vast majority of those entering the spring semester are officially tried-and-true students; this statement is obviously true for upperclassmen but for freshman, it's an important distinction. Most true freshmen -not to be confused with transfer students - are no longer green and inexperienced in the maze of university life and can now, along with their transfer brethren, be considered fully initiated members of the Rice community. And although some students may have been abroad or on leave during the fall semester, most of the student body present in the spring have experienced the events and controversies that marked the fall term, such as Hurricane Ike and changes made concerning student finances and organizations like the Student Admission Council. These experiences and our reactions to them unite us as a student body, and it is only as a large body of students that we can bring change to campus.

A new semester also allows students to put the previous semester's occurrences into perspective. Hindsight is 20-20, and nowhere is this possibly truer than on a college campus. And winter recess, despite its bemoaned brevity, grants students the opportunity to take a break from campus and view the university's stances and our past reactions and actions as students in a more objective light. By reviewing the previous semester in an objective manner, we as students can see not only where we've fought to too hard, but also where and when we haven't fought hard enough for issues that are important and relevant to us, with the like student financial changes and the alterations to SAC.

With the new semester students can once again engage the university and speak and, perhaps most importantly, act on issues that really matter to them. The current administrations at many college governments end soon - most towards the end of February - and the Student Association will hold elections in March and have its new leaders by April. These college and university elections are especially crucial because they mark the end of any real student influence for the rest of the academic year. By the time these important elections have been held, most of the momentum of student concern for campus issues evaporates with more pressing concerns like Spring Break, midterms, Beer Bike, graduation and summer plans. I can't remember when a resolution or motion that could really affect the university and student life was passed at an SA meeting or at college government meeting after changeover season. It is extremely important for students to act now while they still retain their drive and passion for student issues and concerns.

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The mark of a new year as a time of change and revitalization is not a novel concept by any means, and it's a particularly opportune time to affect change on our campus. Students must use these last few, precious weeks to act on issues that matter to them before getting caught up in more pleasurable exploits and wasting the remainder of their energy griping about their concerns. Speak at an SA meeting or college cabinet, or pamphlet the tables at the residential colleges, write a letter or column for the Thresher, but by all means do something that seeks to improve student life and leave a lasting contribution while you still have a chance. Our student life is what we make of it, and if we waste our opportunity to better it, we have no right to complain about its flaws.

Amanda Melchor is a Hanszen College senior and opinion editor.

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