Editorial: Our privilege is not the same

At about the same time every semester, a blanket of “busyness” drapes over Lehigh’s entire student population.

The silliness of syllabus week and post-winter-break motivations begin to fade into comically crowded Google calendars and overwhelming dread about the next round of midterms that looms right around the corner.

We all drift around campus as burnt-out shells of the students who started the semester, telling one another that we’re “busy, but good” because time spent complaining is time that could be spent on the editorial you haven’t written yet.

Luckily, we have professors, parents and alumni to regurgitate some long-winded, university-corporate speech about how privileged we are to be attending a top-50 university and how terribly we’ll miss these four, irreplaceable years.

After all, what better place is there to have a mental breakdown than our new, state-of-the-art business building? Or our 7,000-year-old library? And how could you possibly be crippled by the weight of your responsibilities when there are massive outdoor costume parties every Saturday morning?

Hyperbole aside, there are countless people who will never be given an opportunity to experience the academic and social landscape that we so begrudgingly march through each semester.

And it feels completely out of touch to complain about committing every day to academics when there are people our age working minimum wage jobs out of necessity just outside of our campus.

Undoubtedly, it is a privilege to be here.

But we won’t let ourselves pawn off the problems we face at Lehigh as privileges. And we won’t be conditioned to think that every busy moment of our time at Lehigh should be cherished. The university does not dictate what your Lehigh experience is going to look like. We do.

Privilege is a sliding scale at Lehigh, and every student experiences it differently.

Yes, some of us are working day and night, committing ourselves to our academics and entering industries to make futures that others only dream of.

But others are trying not to get caught reading an email from the bursar’s office during a class they’re taking for a degree they know won’t get them out of student debt.

And yes, some of us will travel to faraway countries to study abroad and have the security that our parents’ friends will surely secure us internships.

But others will end up working the same summer job and kicking themselves for not putting enough time into their resumes between classes, budgeting and trying to find affordable housing.

And still, not many of us (except for the lucky few with the privilege to write on a college newspaper’s editorial board) have any time to reflect on or address these inequalities.

When we pretend the Lehigh experience holds the same privileges for all students, we deny ourselves the insight into how a person’s Lehigh experience reveals the greater issues within our institution and with higher education as a whole.

We are not all living the same experience, and we are all experiencing “busy” in our own ways. If we are blinded by this veil of busyness, its easier to portray students’ problems as a reflection of the student, not the university.

Alumni and administrators alike point to all the students who have made fortunes for themselves with hard work and dedication and tell us how someday we could be one of them too, but they don’t tell you that only about 1 in 7 Lehigh students see significant increases in income.

Busyness is not built the same for every student. And yes, nearly every student at Lehigh worked extraordinarily hard to get here. It’s inspiring to be surrounded by so many young people who are challenging themselves to become better scholars and better people.

But, don’t let anybody tell you that you’re just as privileged as the student next to you, or that neither of you have any “real” problems because you’re both so lucky to be in a place like this.

They’ll fill your head with illusions of Lehigh being a sacred place where all students are created equal and the work that you put in now will surely translate to a successful and happy life after graduation.

But we have to identify the problems and inequalities we experience at Lehigh and not let ourselves be convinced that we’re lucky to have them.

So when you feel that blanket of busyness start to drape over you this semester, don’t just tell yourself that we’re all in this together and that everyone here struggles just the same way you do.

Feel the problems as they come to you and challenge the inequalities that make you feel unheard. We’re at Lehigh to push boundaries and change the higher education landscape however we see fit — not to swallow the privilege pill and feel free of all of our problems.

We’ve all got our issues, Lehigh too — but it’s our duty as students to be the change we want to see in higher education.