Signs saying “put the fair in Ferris” were held in protest of nontenure faculty members outside the Timme Center. Student debt forums were held by President Eisler and Board of Trustee members hosted special meetings to discuss future plans for campus facilities.
With tuition increases and facility management of constant concern for Ferris students, not one student voice was present to answer the Board of Trustees’ call for public opinion at its regular Finance Committee meeting Feb. 24.
These university meetings weren’t occupied to capacity with students unsatisfied with the price of textbooks. They weren’t filled with students unable to afford summer tuition due to Pell Grant cuts and no mention of parking structures were made by students frustrated by limited campus parking.
Though each of these issues has been raised within the informal settings of our peers, they require collective and consistent approaches made visible in the presence of FSU faculty. They require both the voiced concerns of students and faculty in order to be remedied in a way that reflects our needs as FSU students.
Allowing university decisions to be made without the voice and awareness of Ferris students creates a campus which functions in the interest of policy makers disconnected from the effects their choices hold. Though they may appear to be of distant relation to the student body, these meetings and protests will have a personal influence on the future of our education.
Change comes from a community’s ability to be proactive rather than reactive. Let our organized presence at Ferris be larger than only in the classrooms and Entertainment Unlimited-sponsored events we attend. Let our presence bring about change, which can be both seen and experienced by incoming students.
Otherwise, we’ll be forced to ask ourselves, “Where was I the afternoon FSU university officials held a meeting to change my campus forever?”