Open Discourse

Today, I want to answer a few questions. The first, and the one that is asked most often, is what I wanted to accomplish when I started The True BU blog. Instead of trying to remember what I was thinking a year ago, I’ll let you read the first post on that blog, and then I’ll talk a bit about it.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Welcome
The description of this blog reads:

This blog is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for Butler University is not an adventure for those who stand face to face with it. It will simply try to tell the true, anonymous stories of Butler University. It's the truth. It's good. It's bad. It's real.

I stand by that. This blog will be fact. It will be opinion. It will be yours and it will be mine.

This blog will tell stories of Butler University. It can be a resource for information and anecdotes. It can be a tool for prospective students to use during their college selection and it can be a tool for current students who want to know what is really going on. It can be a launching pad for revolution or a coffeehouse of complacency. Only the true conditions at BU will determine the outcome.

This is not a forum for attack, it is a forum for truth. Please refrain from making ad hominem attacks. They do not further discussion or dialogue and they will not be tolerated. I will talk about anything I feel like: Student Government Association, Butler administration/faculty, sporting events, greek life, non-greek life, The Collegian, Dawgnet, random events, and random things. Some posts may be topografical, others superficial, and even others may be somewhat personal.

If you want be a contributer to True BU, Email TheTrueBU@gmail.com


I will be anonymous. You may be anonymous.

I welcome you to submit your stories and thoughts for posting. I won't censor and I won't judge. I won't ask for your identification. You can be called whatever you want to be called. Email them to TheTrueBU@gmail.com

Til we next meet,
Soodo Nym
Posted by Soodo Nym at 10:37 AM

As you can see, all that I had figured out when I started the blog was that I wanted people to feel free to discuss anything. I hoped the blog would provide an outlet for members of the Butler community to express themselves. I was open to anything: There was no grand scheme or overarching plot. I just wanted to see if we could create a space for honest online discussion and I wanted to let it evolve without too much prodding from me. That evolution was an interesting one, and one that I will touch on in the future.

A Butler Blogger (linked on the right), ChristinaL, answers another one of the questions that I have been asked a number of times. A reporter from the Indianapolis Star was probably most direct: He asked me why I haven’t transferred from Butler.

I wish that my answer to that question had made it into the story that was published this morning. (I've linked to it on the right.) I told him that Butler is not comprised of just one thing. It is not just the students, just the administration, or just the faculty. It’s not just one college or department: It’s a community to which I am very proud to belong.

My time at Butler is not something I would trade for a stint on any other college campus. My friends here are some of the smartest, most supportive, inquisitive, and fun people I’ve met in my life. My professors have taught me to think critically and to ask questions: The hallmarks of a good education. I’ve gone with students and faculty to do literally hundreds of hours of community service in Indianapolis. Yes, it’s possible that if I were on another campus, I would feel similarly about my experiences and friends there. But the fact is, the people here have become my friends and have helped to define who I am. I have no desire to give any of that up.

It is because of all of the positive things that go on at Butler that I’m willing to talk about some problems here, and I encourage all of you to do the same in whatever community in which you are a part. To ignore negative things is to be adverse to change and to advancement; to talk about them is to make an effort to better our community. Well-intentioned dissent is healthy because it leads to introspection and progress. It helps to further lines of communication and it enables everybody to see a debate from many angles. When all segments of the population are allowed to be a part of the conversation, we are all richer and the likelihood that there may be positive solutions is greatly enhanced. That is what The True BU developed into and that is what I believe this blog is: A different perspective.

ChristinaL understands and epitomizes this. She said much of what I am thinking. Her title, “In support of Open Discourse” is exactly what I hoped to accomplish with The True BU and, now, hope to do with this blog. Like her, I believe that Butler would be a stronger place, a better place, and an even more interesting place if the administration shared that perspective and allowed alternative voices to be heard. Taking aggressive steps to silence those voices ends up silencing more than a single individual; it keeps people from ever trying to speak.