5 /5 Faye Akinbule: If there is sincerity in what you are doing it will show. If there is integrity in what you are doing it will also show. I want to preface what I will say by saying that our school is a liberal arts university and a Holy Cross university. If you are a student who likes to study and values original thought, then St. Edwards was the proper place for you. During our orientation last year it was promised that we would be supported as students by our school President, Faculty, and staff. They wanted us to succeed.
There are very many ways to study here and the had supported this. However, when the school said that I would have to pay $2060 for a meal plan that I would never use, I asked questions. The school said that there was nothing that they could do, because it was the school iD card office who attends to this matter. Even though I mentioned that I cook my own food, dont eat meat, or eat on campus, they insisted that I pay for that meal plan. I prayed about it, and talked with my Pastor.
You see, the impression that the iD card office gave is that they do not see beyond this view they have. It is this view and no other. The staunch, immovable, myopic type of view. Students like me who are budgeting and working through school with two to three jobs, using good critical thinking, wisdom to graduate on time. They cant see even that. I think about my relatives, here and abroad who dont even spend $1 on food a day. I know that I dont spend $2060 on meals in one semester. I have always cooked my own food. I am a very quiet student, who will sit down and study, but they picked on me because I think for myself. The value I place on my education, and education that will help me help myself, and my relatives, is more than this meal plan cost. As an upperclassmen in our school, I have a responsibility to tell the truth in hope that the school will take these views seriously. I see you supporting our educational efforts but what about the ones who dont?
Instead to trying to veer away from the culture of misinformation and racism that economically affected us since last year, they, the few, still hold to that view. The few people in our school who refuse to even see what Holy Cross means are applying pressure and their views in ways that affects students. They are in the iD card office, the safety office, and maintenance and have given me that impression at times. You are here but you dont really understand what Jesus Christ did on the cross. Attend one maybe two church services or mass, sit down and talk with the Priest, or the Pastor or even some of the staff at our school to fully understand what Holy Cross means. You know it is that there is something about the school that made students come here.
This is my way of rebuking. The few people who are here that picked on students like me did so because they are part of racism and misinformation culture. The world is tiny in their eyes, but no it is a much bigger place. Stop pretending and put away your racism and prejudice, because the values that drew students like me to study here for the fews years we are here, THOSE VALUES WILL ENDURE BEYOND ANY RACISM.
