It’s hard to imagine a university where students don’t congregate in one place or another. Equally difficult is the image of a student body where there is no activism or a place to turn to get involved in campus activities. At SMU the student body is privileged to have a beautiful center where students can meet, learn and grow. It is refreshing to see so many different groups taking advantage of this resource.
Every day in the student center there seems to be another table, more music, different dancing or something new and interesting to learn about. SMU students are commonly chastised for their seeming lack of involvement or interest in various issues. By walking into the Hughes Trigg Student Center, that myth is dispelled. Students are milling around, studying, promoting upcoming events and learning about different activities they can become involved in. They can do all this without even approaching the Student Activities Center (the SAC) on the third floor of Hughes Trigg, where most student leaders gather.
Even though a source of enlightenment, the student center is sometimes a cause for frustration. Walking in to check your mail or grab some lunch in-between classes is cause for being accosted. Music, while culturally enriching, still thumps through walls and into meetings and trains of thought. And perhaps you may not agree with a point of view being shared, a cause asking for support or enjoy a certain type of music.
But remember that the student center is not a library nor is it any other type of building that demands silence. The groups aren’t there to talk to or inform people who already agree with them or have heard what they have to say already. Each cause is worthy in the eyes of those supporting it, which is why they are there. And each student has the same access to use the resources in the student center; all it takes is some advance planning.
By utilizing a forum designed for the use of the students to inform the university about various topics of interest, the whole SMU community benefits. If you want peace and quiet where no one will bother you, try the West Stacks in Fondren Library.
