Often times NYU students expect the school to lobby for them. They feel that they are not full fledged citizens of this city (those who hail from outside the five boroughs). Many may feel disconnected from their communities or the neighborhood. Like and interloper or an unwelcome guest. It is true, that if you do not declare your residence as your school address, or an address within the city, you cannot vote in city elections, or hold a city office yourself, but this does not mean you are not a member of the community.
It is not rare that the University is pitted against local community members. One can recall last year’s scuffles with Greenwich Street residents over the housing for students at the Greenwich Street Hotel, and more recently, disagreements over the schools bus services. These are nothing new. When Bobst Library was built, there were neighborhood residents that lobbied against it. One does not have to look far for East Village residents who speak derisively about the seemingly ubiquitous purple flags that mark NYU outposts on Third Avenue, Second Avenue, Fourteenth Street, and coming soon to a block near you. Many people blame the University, in part, for the escalating gentrification of the Village, East and West and the Lower East Side. So students might feel uncomfortable identifying themselves as such in community meetings.
There is, however, no reason to hide from your student status, and cower in your dorm while neighborhood polls and malcontents make decisions that will effect you life, for at least, the next few years. Students should become politically involved. Why not attend your local Community Board meeting when they are deciding how they are going to re-route your campus shuttle. Or show up to put a human face on the “NYU Student Body� for the people making the decisions. Tell them how those decisions will effect you, and that you too are concerned about the “quality of life� and would be happy with a suitable compromise.
If you live in your own apartment, and have made this your home, attend the local Precinct Community Council Meetings, join the Block Association, the neighborhood community garden, apply for the Community Board. Get involved and show your neighbors what kind of good people we are. Lend support to their projects, and when there is conflict, address it, speak up for yourself and work towards compromise.
There is no reason why, as students, we should not be active and involved in local, city, state or national politics. Every day, now that the impeachment hearing is over, decisions are being made that will effect our lives, from cigarette taxes to social security. Less abstract are changes in funding for TAP and tax credits for college tuition. We can go to Albany and talk to our representatives, or we can write or e-mail them. We have reached our majority and must accept the responsibility that is offered in the many forms of participatory government in our country, and our city. We have the right and the opportunity to influence decisions and we must exercise it.
I have often been exasperated by the disdain and apathy that students great politics with. We are living in a time when the media and politicians are more than happy to tell us what we think. It is about time that we speak up and tell them what we think. Political participation shouldn’t be considered a chore, it is a privilege, one that countless people have given their lives for, and more people than not decline to exercise it. Just try it, go to a community board meeting, or maybe a City Council hearing, vote in the next elections. As silly as it sounds, it can be fun and exciting, its better in person than on TV. You would be surprised at how entertaining a Community Board 3 meeting can be, better than prime time. I enjoy them so much, I have applied for the Board. And who knows, in a few years, maybe you will be able to vote for me.