Writing my last column is kind of like signing a yearbook. I'm tempted to reminisce about college years gone past, maybe offer some thanks to the people who helped me get this far, perhaps wish my fellow seniors good luck and success in the future.
But I'm not going to do that.
Satisfying that temptation would signal the end of my relationship with Boston College, which isn't the case at all. None of our relationships with BC are over on May 21 - or for you underclassmen, whenever you graduate - because everything that the University has done, does, or will do is a reflection of us.
But at the same time, we are products of BC, and therefore, we are BC. We are the manifestation of what BC means, and that gives us the power to change it even after graduation.
Wherever we go, whoever we meet, people will take a look at the words Boston College on our résumés and associate it with a variety of words - they will probably be words like "Jesuit," "football," "respectable," "beautiful campus," or "intelligent."
But after what I've witnessed in the past four years - the protests, the rallies, the marches, the stereotypes - they could very well be "male-biased," "alcohol," "eating disorder," "close-minded," "stubborn," or even "discriminatory."
Right now, we seniors are trying to figure out what to do with the rest of our lives, and so is BC. The University is growing up, but it doesn't know what it wants to be.
It wants to maintain its "Jesuit Catholic identity," something I put in quotation marks because it's become so popular as a fallback phrase that no one really knows what it means anymore.
What is certain, however, is that the Jesuit Catholic identity is something the University uses to distinguish itself from other schools. But there's a large difference between honoring tradition and being trapped by it.
This school was founded to provide Irish-Catholic boys access to education they were denied elsewhere. Since then, however, it has had to change with the times; in 1952, it allowed women to enroll and in the 1960s, when there was an influx of AHANA students admitted into the University.
These events occurred within a larger movement of greater rights for women and people of color. Accordingly, new courses and disciplines had to be introduced to keep up with the changing face and influence of higher education.
BC had to change because if it didn't, it would be left behind - and no educational institution wants that.
That pivotal time is on the horizon again. Like Barack Obama said in his presidential candidacy speech, every generation is called to do something.
Those before us fought for civil rights for women and people of color as well as everyone's access to education, health care, and employment. In a few years, our generation will be the one making the big decisions in and out of office.
And that's where our relationship with BC comes in. The University relies on our public success to tout its superiority over other colleges. Our education here has been an exciting time because of all the work that has yet to be accomplished.
With this in mind, I urge you, the senior class especially, to continue the work you've been doing to diversify the curriculum, give women positive images of their bodies, expand dialogue, and to acknowledge the worth of every person in ways that exist outside of this campus.
This kind of work never ends, and BC will inevitably feel the effects of your actions through how you change society. If society changes enough, BC will have to change along with it as it has in the past.
I urge all of us to take the words "Boston College" and give them new meaning. We really are BC, and ultimately, we have the power to determine what that means now and for the future.
So remember, it's not over - it has just begun.
Be the first to comment on this article!