President Bailey,
Let me be among the first of many to formally welcome you home to The University of Alabama. We all share in the excitement and hype of a new chapter for our campus – yet another fresh start in the long, storied history of Alabama’s flagship university.
A deeper look into our history tells many stories. Perhaps the most prevalent position in which we find ourselves is that, somehow in the midst of a troubled state, our University has always striven to be better, to go forward, to spur new ideas and to equip a new generation of leaders with a sound mind and discerning judgment.
The current student body has been no stranger to UA’s commitment to always wanting more, both for good and bad.
With the largest freshman class in the University’s history and the constant echo of construction, we are experiencing phenomenal years of unprecedented campus growth and development. We’ve seen our greek system drastically expand, now claiming its title as the largest in the country. We’ve never been ranked higher among public universities, and we proved our athletic dominance with four national championship teams last year.
But we’ve also seen tuition increase every year like clockwork, we’ve seen our campus injected with thousands more vehicles each August, and we’ve all experienced the nightmare of navigating through the hordes of campus pedestrians, each more clueless to traffic signals than the one prior. We’ve seen our class sizes grow, and sometimes, we can’t help but feel our CWID number is our only personal identifier.
As an alumnus from the 1970s, you are able to come back and see the true scale of our growth in numbers and in stature. But while our campus is thriving in enrollment and expansion, the sad reality is that our campus’ culture remains relatively unchanged from the last time you called the University your home. We still face a largely segregated greek system, virtually homogenous student government leaders and a clear campus divide – as is evident through our football seating – all with no apparent appetite for the relentless tide of progress.
Perhaps the most puzzling element of the University’s commitment to perpetual “more” is the administration’s insistence to not aggressively promote change and progress in our campus culture. For decades, we have allowed our campus to be enslaved to the promotion and practice of tyranny, corruption and elitism by students, against students, condoned at the hands of countless timid administrators.
I hope you will challenge your senior administrators to finally stand up against the voices and old barriers that constantly slow our progress. Students want a courageous leader, not more blind apathy and false hope from administrators who are desperate to talk about anything else.
Through previous administrations, student input has been relatively stifled – overshadowed by the bottom dollar and mostly ignored if not in sync with the more-more-more mantra. This lack of communication led to a never-ending cycle where concerns were not being voiced and issues were not being addressed. I hope you will be open to concerns and ideas from students and will be the visible president that our campus needs.
Over the course of the next few months and years, you will have the ability to shape and define your legacy at the Capstone. Students need an advocate, a friend and a fierce confidant in the President’s Mansion – one who leads by example, while displaying a genuine interest in the cultural – not merely numerical – advancement of our student body. We hope you are that leader, and we hope you will provide that critical guidance.
Austin Gaddis is a senior majoring in communication studies and public relations. His column runs weekly on Wednesdays.
