To the Editor:
Last Sunday afternoon, I wandered on to Twitter. The parody account “@FakeEmoryUniversity” had just tweeted about the Three-Fifths Compromise. I was unfamiliar with why they made the reference, so I decided to do some searching, and I was directed to articles about President Wagner on Salon and Gawker. I read them and was surprised that I was not surprised by their content: Emory University had made yet another administrative gaffe. Reading about public administrative fumbles has become commonplace to alums like me. Even living in cities hundreds of miles away from Atlanta, these fumbles are getting to be embarrassing.
As an undergraduate student, I was involved in organizations and activities that were not going to help me get into graduate school: I liked theater, I was involved in WMRE and I worked in a biology lab. I was not a resume-building people-pleaser, and my achievements did not land me on the 100 Senior Honorary. Instead, I spent most of my time with a group of people who repelled off the top of the tower, cut tunnels in between their apartments in the same building, streaked across the quad, attended frat parties as wizards, distributed “Dead Men Don’t Rape” signs and most importantly (and rightfully) criticized the administration. So, if you were like me in college, this message is for you:
Don’t be afraid to stand up for what you think is right, even if it means running into trouble with the administration or losing “that” award from the college. Believe me, once you leave campus, you will take more pride in the statements you made rather than the status quo you maintained (and you’ll have better stories to tell at bars). Look out for each other. Offer your voice to those who have trouble being heard and shout it into the faces of those who don’t want to hear it. Be bad. Break the rules you believe are wrong and expect to be punished. You will learn more from breaking the rules than you will from following them. Do something not because it will gain you good favor with the higher ups, but because you believe it is the right thing to do.
After all, from my experience, once you enter the real world (in my case, medical school) and leave the perfectly manicured lawns of Emory’s campus behind, you won’t be proud of the news you hear coming from the administration of your esteemed alma mater. So, please Emory class of 2016, 2015, 2014 and 2013, do what you think is right and give the rest of us something to be proud of.
Austin J. Causey
Alumnus
Emory College Class of 2012
The Emory Wheel was founded in 1919 and is currently the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University. The Wheel publishes weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions.
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Great piece! The administration is a joke. The situation has gotten out of control because most students put up with their incompetence. I don’t really care about the Three-Fifths compromise column, but the University has made itself a target of criticism by claiming to have such high ethical standards. Wagner shouldn’t be a scapegoat for everything though. It’s the culture of the entire administration that is the problem. They should all be ashamed of themselves. For the longest time the Emory administration was complaining that they don’t get enough attention in the national press. Well they got what they wished for.
You had me until you said that entering the real world includes going medical school.
Give me a break!