This isn’t meant to be an insider’s guide to coveted campus short-cuts and perks for students that are jealously guarded by the seasoned, curious and bold.
This is a celebration of where their stumbles and inquiries have brought them. It is meant more as an inspiration for those who struggle and need their own taste of bureaucratic relief.
There are students who understand EC and the way it is run, which is in many ways an allegory for how California’s government operates.
The secret copy machine hidden away in the Schauerman Library’s deepest enclaves, the mysterious financial aid kiosk whose hours and locations seem solely dependent upon moon phases and celestial alignment. The free printers whose whereabouts are only divulged by the most tenured professors to only their most favorite students; these are only a few of the secrets of EC that are already discovered yet still remain elusive.
Regardless of whether these great mysteries are a product of our own behavior, the design of one autonomous, high level administrator or the random chaos from a growing and changing campus, we must recognize that we must deal with the hard scrabble ways of EC. In fact, it’s statewide.
California remains on the verge of fiscal oblivion, and the college finds itself in the same type of delicate limbo as the rest of the state.
As a result, the lines have gotten longer, the classes have been fewer, and dealing with nearly every student service is reminiscent of getting a tooth pulled.
But instead of griping, we should be looking at the opportunities these struggles are providing for character building. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll fondly reminisce of the hours spent waiting to get a counselor appointment sitting in the Student Services Building.
Administrators and staff know many of the secret shortcuts that would make your college life easier. Try approaching them with kind words and big smiles.
After all, that’s what others before you have done to get the information you want.
In a culture where being privy and having insider knowledge are the embodiment of cool, it’s often the hippest among us who don’t need to stand in line and still get what they want.
Those who network the best benefit the most and bypass the stresses that the rest of the student masses struggle through.
There is opportunity for the wise to build on wisdom and share sparsely their tips to relieve the bureaucratic headaches.
Some just need to wander not only the campus, but also the college’s official website.
Maybe this is all something more than an isolated lesson from which EC students can learn from. Maybe Sacramento should take notice of the ways to rub elbows and share wisdom.
Maybe things would be a whole lot better in California if instead of all the finger pointing and reputation bashing during election time, elected officials just took the time to gussy up one another to get things done. With a kind word and a smile.