Thursday, November 1, 2001

Survey makes student apathy obvious
Commentary by Julie Ann Matonis

Journalists are not mathematicians. We do not claim to be number-crunchers.

Instead, we turn to experts for help with numerical computations. However, some aspects of the House of Student Representatives Constituency Day survey do not need mathematical interpretation. Some of the findings are cut and dry.

Unfortunately, they demonstrate an epidemic at TCU — student apathy.

House Vice President Amy Render said the House received almost 800 responses to last year’s Constituency Day survey. All were residential students.

This year, the survey was conducted online. Responses came from both commuter and residential students. Only 581 people responded. The TCU Web site approximates that there are more than 7,600 graduate and undergraduate students.

Lack of student involvement was the most important issue on campus for 36.8 percent of residential students and 38 percent of commuter students. They are right.

Not even 10 percent of the student population took the time to respond to a survey.

How do you not have time to answer a survey that would take no more than five minutes? Is there something else so important that you could not take five minutes out of your day? You were not asked to go anywhere. Five more minutes of sleep wouldn’t give you more energy. Missing five minutes of chit-chat in The Main would not hurt your social life.

You can claim you never got the e-mail about the survey. You can say you do not check your TCU e-mail. Bad excuse. During the last few years, the university has started to send important information through e-mail: course enrollment dates, residence hall sign-ups and scholarship renewal requirements. Missing that kind of information could hurt your academic standing. Remember why you are here?

But, perhaps because enrollment dates benefit you, you are more likely to read that e-mail. If there were an incentive, maybe you would take the time to fill out a five-minute survey.

Or maybe you thought your response would not matter. Nick Whitesell, a freshman speech communication and business major, said he filled out the survey, but only because he was just responding to e-mail in his mailbox.

“I’m not going to be listened to any way. (The survey) was a total waste of time,” Whitesell said.

Is that the problem? Do we need to have a discussion about voting in this country? It is your duty as a citizen to vote and take part in government. As a student here at TCU, it should be your duty to offer your input when asked by leaders. You lose the right to complain about something when you fail to take any corrective action. We should not give up our voices because we think no one will listen. There would be a lot more silence.

Students who did respond to the survey said they were most interested in getting involved in leadership activities on campus. Maybe there is hope. Maybe those 581 people can do something to get their peers involved or at least get them to care.

At the Evening with the Nobels panel discussion a few weeks ago, Nobel Peace Prize winner Jody Williams said leadership is caring enough to get up and take the first step. Thankfully, the survey demonstrates that some people still care.

The bottom line is that there is no excuse. The survey results do not accurately reflect the sentiments of the entire student body because most of the student body ignored their e-mail for whatever reason. The House will do what it wants with the survey results. We hope improvements will be made based on our responses.

None of us can control how that information is used unless we go to meetings and try to get involved. The House asked for opinions and 581students deserve praise for making an effort. First step accomplished. No more excuses.

News Editor Julie Ann Matonis is a junior broadcast journalism major from San Antonio. She can be contacted at (j.a.matonis@student.tcu.edu).