Graceless Gustavus. These two words are rarely, if ever, used together. In fact, we usually characterize Gustavus as being a nice, friendly, welcoming place. A place where students, faculty and staff routinely say hello to each other, even if they don’t have the faintest recollection of who the other individual is.
We are in danger of losing this image. It is my belief that we all, as a campus, are in danger of losing our sense of respect, tact and just plain grace.
Let me illustrate this danger through the use of three examples, all of which happened in the last week. Starting with the first…
Example #1: The event in question occurred during my morning class on what appeared to be an ordinary day. My professor had walked in, cordially greeted the class, and started talking about the topic for the day. Suddenly, my professor stopped mid-sentence and addressed a student in one of the rows in front of me, asking, in a perfectly pleasant but pointed voice: “What is it that you are doing?” At first, I was a bit confused, not knowing exactly what he was referring to. My professor continued, “I have tried to ignore it, but is that homework for another class?”
The student remained silent. The class remained silent. The tension was there. Finally, after waiting for an answer, the professor said, “Whatever it is, could you stop doing it please?”
Example #2: During our customary five-minute break in class, my professor started talking to those of us around (and listening) about how she and another professor were thinking about submitting a letter to the editor. This piqued my interest, for I, as the Commentary Editor, am always interested in what members of the Gustavus community are thinking.
Upon asking about the topic of the letter, my professor told us about an evening lecture she had attended recently. My professor had noticed that students just left in the middle of the lecture, often very loudly. It seemed as if they came just to get credit for a class, and as soon as they fulfilled this obligation, they left as soon as they could. My professor was irked because not only was it distracting to members of the audience, the speaker noticed those leaving as well.
Example #3: I was sitting in the chapel during last Friday’s chapel service. This service was significant for it was being dedicated to the installation of the newly tenured faculty. The service was delivered with some pomp and circumstance; a significant amount of the Board of Trustees was in attendance, the faculty attended in their ceremonial robes and, during the homily, President Jim Peterson and the Board’s Chair, Jim Gale, presented the certificates to the newly tenured faculty.
It appeared to be a very nice service. However, towards the end, Chaplain Brian Johnson invited Board of Trustees Chair Jim Gale to speak one last time. He walked up to the podium and, to the surprise of those in attendance, announced the new President, Jack Ohle. Suddenly, Jack Ohle walked up the stairs behind the altar, greeted all in attendance and gave a short speech, mainly about his vision for Gustavus and his excitement to be working with the Gustavus community.
All three examples illustrate the lack of respect, or just plain lack of tact, in some members of the Gustavus community. In the first example, you see a student being ‘caught’ for doing something counterproductive in class. It’s not that I am not sympathetic; students always have their moments of ‘embarrassment’ during classes, whether caused by ringing cell phones, getting caught having aside conversations, or for using computers—not to take notes—but to chat up friends using whichever messaging service they like best. These moments happen to almost every student, even me (it really makes me question why cell-phone makers develop silent/vibration modes that almost everyone can hear anyway … ).
Yet, the poignancy of this particular example was that the student was engaging in an outright, visible sign of disrespect, whether he/she intended it to be or not. You come to class to learn, listen and participate when asked. College classes are not high-school study halls; the professor can see you when you are not listening or engaging in class. I am sure the student learned this lesson well after that particular class.
The second example plainly shows that these moments of student disrespect are occurring, not just during class, but during any event. Other students have even come up to me and expressed frustration with the individual who comes to a group meeting and puts on his/her headphones in half-way through, or the students whojust grab a free frost-your-own cookie without staying for the actual event that the cookies are for. Is this the image that we, as students, want?
As we see with example #3, gracelessness isn’t a problem unique to students (thus, it cannot just be a problem of students’ so-called lack of maturity). I was very frustrated after the Friday chapel service, for the Board of Trustees, with their announcement, changed the meaning of the service.
From now on, the faculty, staff and students will remember that service not as the service honoring tenured faculty, but as the service in which we first learned the name of our new President.
I cannot discover a reason for delivering the announcement at that time, other than that it was convenient for the Board and the new President. Convenience does not justify disrespect. It would have been much better if the Board had scheduled a special event that day for the sole purpose of delivering that announcement.
It unsettles me that I am even able to come up with these examples. I am even more unsettled that all of these examples are events that I experienced in the last week. Thus, I leave you all with one simple question: what happened to Minnesota nice, the attitude that Gustavus is, according to New York Times columnist Verlyn Klinkenborg, famous for? I don’t know about you all, but I think we should find it. And fast.