Elections’ – Symposium Dinner

In looking forward to college, I imagined becoming an informed person. That sounds vague I know. What I mean is that I looked forward to learning what was going on in the nation, in the world, and what I could do about it. I didn’t think that I would only find out about the problems.

I imagined learning about the way systems work, the way governments interact with one another, why science says what it does about global warming, etc. I wanted to learn about it all and about how I fit into the global equation.

The elections this year are a great example of how college campuses can help inform their students. When I thought about what it would be like to vote in college, I imagined presidential nominees coming to campus to speak or former presidents coming to speak on their behalf. Now, I love Saint Leo and most of the time I love that I go to a small school but we have less than 2,000 on campus resident students. There is no way a presidential nominee would ever come to a school that small during a campaign. However, what I came to understand tonight was that in spite of our size we can still inform our citizens in a way that is unique to the college atmosphere.

Tonight, University Ministry hosted a Symposium Dinner. We had three professors from various fields (a sociologist, an economist, and a theologian) talk about what it means to vote in light of their fields and faith. Using their experience in their fields and the way our society and economy are today, they talked about what it means for us to vote today. They did a very good job of not telling us for whom we should vote. Rather they spoke on the issues. It was fantastic. It was like almost like having the perks of a large school but on a small scale and with a Saint Leo flavor.