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Aug. 17, 2007

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Parking

I don’t think it is right that the executive staff members at Trinity have their own parking spaces in the basement garage of Northrup Hall. At least I didn’t used to. That all changed when I served as the interim Vice President for Student Affairs from last February until four days ago. 

As a campus resident (housed in a University home near the Bell Center) I always found the locale within comfortable walking or biking distance to my Northrup office. The staff on Oakmont practically live right next door and certainly didn’t need to drive, I figured. (In fairness, they often don’t.)

Power corrupts, though, and before long the empty parking space with the “VP for Student Affairs” sign beckoned. I thought I would use it just once, because I was in a hurry. What would it hurt, right? It was invigorating and I even felt a little naughty. Before long I became comfortable pulling in through the bat-cave like entrance. And then, it became routine.

It wasn’t always perfect. Because of my interim status, I suspect, I was never issued a garage door remote, which is to be used after hours. On more than one occasion I had to jump out hit the button on the wall, jump in, and drive off and then repeat the process to close the door.

One day, running errands with my four-year-old, I was distracted and scraped the side of our Suburban against the wall to the garage. (On a subsequent trip that day she spontaneously applauded when I got in cleanly: “You did it Daddy!”)

As students, particularly as new students, you will hear about social justice and privilege. The truth is, we all have a lot of privilege – those of us who work here as well as those who study here. While my most recent short-lived privilege was a perfect, glorious parking space (yes, I miss it already…) I have many others. We all do. We have one another in this vital, dynamic, and challenging community. We have wonderful facilities and comforts. We have exceptional food and shelter. For some here, this may be the first taste of such privilege, and for many, it has taken a lot of hard work to be here.

The challenge for all of us is not to take this all for granted or be desensitized by what we have. For students, this University will throw the doors of the world wide open. You will see things differently than ever before: poverty, war, racism, nationalism, homophobia, and cruelty, to name a few. You will learn some of this from your exceptional teachers. Many of you will learn firsthand, by traveling abroad. And some of you will learn second hand, from your international roommates.

You will learn amidst a backdrop of other issues: your desire to drink while under age (and your disdain for our policies), your frustration with a class that is closed, and your anger about the practice that doesn’t allow your meal balance to roll from one semester to the next. These are valid too, on a different scale.

Whether the issues we face are global, local, or personal, one thing won’t change. It is a privilege to be here. We must never take our good fortune, or one another, for granted. And when we get a good parking space – we should savor the moment.

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