University communities are a microcosm of society. Your course-load is equivalent to a typical work week. We have student organizations, which are equivalent to non-profit organizations, professional associations and non-governmental organizations. We have intercollegiate athletics which is sometimes even more exciting than professional sports. We have fraternity and sorority life which mirrors the structure and likeness of closed societies in the general realm. And, finally, we have student government which has proven to be more contentious, more scandalous, and more jaw-dropping than municipal, county, state and national politics. We have a student media, just as society has a media, which serves as the watchdog and messenger of society. The only element missing from university communities is entrepreneurship, and even that is exercised, to some extent, via student organizations.
University communities are constructed in such a way so that students not only grow intellectually, but so that they can be duly prepared for life as a member of society. As an undergraduate student, student involvement was a way of life for me, not just a catchy slogan or phrase. I served in the executive, then the legislative branch of Student Government. I was chapter president of my social fraternity. I founded, and was the first president of, a politically motivated student organization. I served on several university committees that made important decisions about university policy. I performed community service within the university community and the external community. And yes, I even wrote for the student newspaper.
Student involvement adds value to your education while increasing your level of affinity for the institution. I attend alumni events and football games, as well as serve in an un-official advisory role for my social fraternity, student government officials and various other student leaders. I feel forever connected to my undergraduate institution, which would not have been possible if I had simply attended classes and passed exams.
Because I am not an authority on the subject, and further, because my opinion on the issue is obviously skewed, you will probably feel more comfortable taking advice from Alexander W. Austin. Austin cultivated a student development theory based on student involvement in a study entitled “Student Involvement: A Developmental Theory for Higher Education” which was first published in 1984 and republished in the “Journal of College Student Development.”
Austin’s theory summarizes that a successful student is one who “…devotes considerable energy to studying, spends much time on campus, participates actively in student organizations, and interacts frequently with faculty members and other students.” Austin posits that participation in on campus employment opportunities, student government, research projects, ROTC, social fraternities and sororities, intercollegiate athletics and taking up residence in university dormitories significantly decrease the rate at which students drop out of college, while increasing the rate of student success, student satisfaction with their collegiate experience and the desire to continue onto graduate and/or professional school.
The undergraduate population at NSU is approximately 5,000. Each student pays $500 every academic school year in student activity fees. This means that undergraduate students have approximately $2.5 million reasons to get involved in campus life. Think about it as taxes. When you become a taxpaying member of society, will you simply pay your taxes and stand on the sidelines while the government does as it pleases, without voicing your concern and effecting change?
In the same manner, you should make the best of the $500 you pay in student activity fees annually by getting involved in campus life. Join or start a student organization. Write for student and university publications. Organize and perform community service. Run or apply for student government office. Make a commitment to at least rush all fraternities or sororities on campus when rush week comes around. Find out what you can do to get a part-time job on campus. If none of your interests currently exist, make an effort to contact student leaders and university administrators to incorporate your interests into campus life.
What you probably don’t understand is that without you, this institution amounts to nothing because you have the power to influence the course of events here. Moreover, without your satisfaction of and affinity for this university, it will continue on the same path, unchanged and unchallenged.
So whatever you do, make it your business to not only take and pass classes, but to make an impact on campus. NSU will never rise to the stature and likeness of other universities within the state unless students become involved in the process of improving the university.
