Bridgewater College is at the precipice of change. The idea of interterm moving to May is an aggravation to many and an insult to others. Students question why they were not consulted, or at least given further notice to prepare. After all, if it’s for us, why aren’t they listening to our opinions?
Interterm, a three-week term in January, takes place between Winter break and the start of Spring semester. Students who participate in Interterm take a single three-credit course. The courses that are offered in Interterm range from standard general education courses to interesting, micro-topic courses, offered by respective departments. Those micro-topic courses can be odd, strange, and often fun. These topics are usually ones that wouldn’t be applicable to the longer, Fall and Spring, semesters.
I once took a class, called “Filming the Middle Ages.” It certainly sounds like all fun and no play, but we analyzed the various ways that the Middle Ages were presented in different films. It was fun. But it was also educational, in that we were able to compare fact from fiction and discuss the significance of the Middle Ages today. This topic, while engaging and educational, could not be stretched out to be a full semester class. It wouldn't make sense.
Many students use Interterm as a transitional period, in which they have a light work-load after a long break and before the start of the new semester. This enables to them to get back in the groove of attending class and doing homework without, as one professor put it, going from 0-60. It allows students to catch up or get ahead, if they have hopes of graduating early, without having to pay those nasty Summer Session fees. Without Interterm, many students would not be graduating on time. The fact that it is included in each student’s tuition every year also helps.
As many of you may know, Victoria Naranjo, a student at Bridgewater College, started a petition to oppose the change to Interterm. That petition has garnered over 500 signatures, which is nearly a third of the student population. Naranjo’s success has also incited the college to hold a town hall meeting, which would serve as an open forum for students to express their thoughts and feelings on the matter.
In my failed endeavors to organize a protest, I spoke with many students, who managed to drag themselves to class the day after the nerve-wracking election. Each student I spoke to seemed to have the same general questions and stances. They all 1.) wondered why three people were standing on the campus mall in the middle of the rain 2.) supported the protest 3.) didn’t want Interterm to change, and 4.) weren’t really up for protesting. Protesting can be a major step. For some it has a negative connotation; they don’t want to be associated with radicals, and they fear penalization. Several students that I spoke to had signed the petition, but there were others who claimed that, while they really didn’t want Interterm to change, they just didn’t have time to sign the petition.
Mind you, this is an online petition. An online petition that has been posted to MyBC, Bridgewater College’s portal to vital campus information, to which all students have access. Many students log-on daily. The petition is right there. It takes maybe 30 seconds to sign. And some people didn’t have time to sign it.
This is absolutely appalling.
Change must have a catalyst. It is not passive. If people feel passionately about something, action is necessary to ensure that others understand their perspective. But if people are not willing do to more than like a page or post on Facebook, nothing will happen. By all means, show your support on social media, but you must do more. Otherwise, there will be no mutual understanding. No enlightenment. And no change.
Administrators and the board of trustees don’t care if John Doe’s angry post about Interterm gets 100 likes. They don’t care if his old friends from high school and current classmates here, at Bridgewater, comment in agreement. They care about what is in front of them.
We cannot be social activists on Facebook alone. Action must occur face-to-face and in real life. I implore you all, if you haven’t already, to sign the petition and, if you can, attend the town hall meeting.
This applies to everyone, BC student or not: your voices matter. They should be heard.
But that’s just my opinion.
Link to Interterm Petition:
