Oh the times they are a-changing.
Sing it, Bob, sing it! But that doesn't necessarily mean that
I believe it.
Bob Dylan's anthem doesn't seem to hold true here in Athens, even when we are celebrating 200 years of higher education at Ohio University.
We think that the hills surrounding Athens create a whirlpool of political and social issues that need to be solved. But more foolishly of us, we think these issues are solved, when in reality, they resurface every few years. In reality, the whirlpool simply keeps issues in Athens.
To list just a few examples:
While flipping through a thick dusty book containing The Post archives of the 1993-94 school year, I had to take a second glance at the dates. Many of the headlines and stories were reminiscent of stories that had run last year or even last week. I started reading the stories and had to laugh - the same complaints were being raised, the same solutions proposed and sometimes even the same people quoted 10 years ago as today.
While I looked through the pages of the archive book, I noticed multiple complaints about tuition going up. It seemed that every time the Board of Trustees met to discuss budget, they raised tuition. We all know that to be true today.
Domestic partner benefits were discussed in numerous editorials, articles and letters to the editor. Funny, isn't it, that we are still having those same discussions after Gov. Bob Taft signed the Defense of Marriage Act. Those in the LGBT community have been waiting for an answer for at least 10 years - isn't it about time we gave them one?
This year's Halloween celebration was quoted as being the worst in history. Oddly enough, that is what administrators and city officials said 10 years ago when the majority of Halloween problems revolved around trafficking marijuana on Court Street. Even some of the costumes are the same.
Did you know in the early '90s Student Senate vowed to be more involved? Weird. I guess I'm still waiting for that one. I know they meet frequently, distribute information and pass resolutions every week - but what do these resolutions do? Anything? Of course, senate has made changes on campus, but vowing to be more involved? That's one resolution that still needs a little work.
Are you noticing a pattern?
These situations are only a selection from the entire page of headlines I copied down. Times really don't change too much here. Maybe that's part of the charm of Athens and OU. And maybe that's one reason we still have so many problems waiting to be solved today.
journalism major who wants to wish OU a Happy 200th Birthday! She's sure that things have changed in that period, but not in recent years.
Send her an e-mail at katherine.primm@ohiou.edu.
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Katie Primm
