Whether you rang in 2008 at a raunchy nightclub on Richmond or an arty Kensington Market loft party (or, let’s face it, your friend’s suburban basement with their parents’ stolen beer), another year has passed in your young life. While the first issue of the year usually tries to sum up 2007 in terms of music (In Rainbows), film (No Country For Old Men), cultural politics (neo-liberalism), and burgeoning trends (hostile Facebook takeovers), there’s more at stake. 2007’s heroes were Al Gore, Vladimir Putin (according to TIME), and Stéphane Dion. Anti-gay senators were found in men’s bathrooms, something called the Iphone transformed the way we communicate, and, in one case, our news editor found himself skyrocketed when a gas line underneath several midtown Manhattan buildings exploded.
Needless to say, 2007 was not for the faint of heart.
At our university, we saw religious accommodation for Halal food split UTSC in two, a student space referendum turn ugly, and the issue of ethical divestments come to a head as the links between the University of Toronto and the totalitarian Darfur regime became widely known. The tragic school shooting at Virginia Tech made campus security at our own institution a chief concern. And as always, students across the country continued taking steps towards creating a better university: one with lower tuition, flexible meal plans, and a progressive attitude towards education. As proven by the brutal violence between Université du Québec à Montréal student protesters and police officials, we are still a ways away.
It’s difficult to define a year in passing when, as an undergrad, months seem to melt away like ice cubes. Weren’t we just suntanning in the UC quad and buying textbooks we’ve barely cracked once? How does one squeeze everything they can out of the university experience, when it all seems so fleeting—a hazy blur of skipped lectures, coulda-woulda-shouldas, rough commutes and bouts of procrastination—if not depressing. For a student population that’s supposed to be changing the world, sometimes it’s hard enough to pass your science distribution credit. Hell, sometimes it’s hard enough not to go to school in your pajama pants. I’m looking at you, girl in my 11 a.m. tutorial.
Students exist in a community that is entrenched with political, cultural, and economic concerns. But as much as we are affected by the decisions policy makers and university bureaucrats enforce upon us, we’re the ones who can supposedly make a difference. Aren’t we supposed to stride down Philosopher’s Walk, inspired by what we desire? Isn’t a campus supposed to open our minds instead of making us feel hopeless, small, angry, or alone?
My dad often waxes rhapsodical on his days as a freewheelin’ U of T student in the 1970s, smoking cigarettes in Hart House Circle in between Marshall McLuhan lectures and discussions of the Vietnam War. While the haircuts and Top 40 hits may have changed, all generations of students want the same things. We want to learn. We want to grow. And we wanna walk around our campus feeling satisfied.
Think of what you’re reading on this page as your blank slate. It’s a new year, so get out there and start doing everything you want to do. And do it now. And do it often. Because sooner or later, you’ve graduated and it’s over.
