Break Rules At School - I Did, And It Made Me The Leader I Am Today!

    Dealing with the rules and regulations for your club or publication can be a flawed and tedious process, and at times completely asphyxiating to the spirit of your cause. If a student has the will to be a leader, why must the way of execution be so riddled with fine print and miscommunication? At Hunter College, the issue of bureaucracy unfortunately does not end at student activities; merely filing for graduation can be a long and arduous task.  One can imagine how it is for people who request funding for “extra-curricular” activities.
  The flipside of a slow bureaucracy is a lack of oversight and enforcement of policy. During the last Spring 2008 semester, I took advantage of this weakness to create a steady, visual and audible presence within the hallways of my school. The results of the campaign were overwhelmingly positive. Were it not for my disregard of the purported regulations that govern obtaining a permit for tabling, as well as my capacity to guiltlessly deliver a few well-intentioned white lies when necessary, the level of success reached by my publication, Hunter Anonymous, would not have been possible.

  I began my promotions for Hunter Anonymous well before the initial printing. The success of the publication relies solely on the participation of students and faculty at Hunter, so getting off to a strong start was top priority. I had observed, in my previous two years of attendance at Hunter, that many school organizations would set up their signs and posters and flyers and people behind these long tables that were located at major hubs of foot traffic. To do this, I learned that I needed to obtain a tabling permit from the Student Services department of the school. Besides the fact that the person in charge of scheduling and permitting these licenses was stubborn and uncommunicative, the available slots for tables was extremely limited. This came as a bit of a surprise to me. Rarely had I seen all the tables vacated, even during the most heavily trafficked days and times. Wednesday was always a clear slot because there are no classes in the afternoon, so basically a worthless time to be propagandizing anything. When I did in fact get some prime real estate, it was scheduled for at least two weeks in advance.
    I can't recall exactly when I chose to ignore this whole permit process and just plop my butt wherever I felt like, but it certainly wasn't more than a month after the semester began. In addition to handing out flyers urging people to send me their submissions, I would rent out audio equipment under the auspices of the Media Board, and proceed to blast music throughout the hallways of the school. In order to get equipment from the Audio/Visual department, a club needs authorization from the Undergraduate Student Government, as well as a copy of the tabling permit. Fortunately, as a publication and a member of the Media Board, I needed no such authorization past the ink of my own signature. So in my initial attempts at hijacking the A/V department, I would play it cool and tell them "yes, there is Media Board event in the West Building, 3rd floor, from one to three, so I need the biggest amplifier and speaker system you have." (Forgive me, Tania.) Since I was oftentimes confronted by people who had absolutely no idea what the Media Board was, I often had to explain the very nature of it. So my publication acted as sort of a diving board into a deeper conversation that required me to answer many questions past the subject of Hunter Anonymous (which was a hell of a thing to sell to people in the first place), such as - the publications are free, this for Hunter College students only, a portion of your Student Activity fee goes towards this, and yes, even YOU can start your own publication!
    After doing this many, many times throughout the course of the the semester (if there was a "Most Enthusiastic Tabler" award, I would have gotten it), the folks at A/V got to know me well and I became friends with a good portion of them. It was kind of like frequenting your favorite bar and having the tender throw you your favorite drink, without request -  a CD/tape combo, with a big PA speaker, on the rocks.
    (Side note - I believe in the power of music to transform people, regardless of their taste or personal hangups. Music, and good music especially, is an undeniable force that will leave an impression on all within earshot. I regard DJ’ing as an important social tool that has the potential to bring people together, if the sounds are chosen with utmost respect to the circumstances.  Most of the clubs at Hunter College seem to lack my interest in this arena, functioning no farther than a device to inspire some mildly curious rubber-necking. Commercial pop-rap, -reggaeton, and –rock are the most commonly audible offerings, resulting in a blandness that, to my delight, can transform the simplest offering of diversity into a throbbing sore thumb amongst the most well-manicured digits of your campus life. I should note this tactic does not end with music, but has the ability to be applied to any sort of media; audio, visual, or otherwise.)
    So I played a whole bevy of music that you simply would never hear in such a setting. The eclectic and ever-present music became synonymous with Anonymous. People who enjoyed it would stop by the table to hang out and help pass out flyers. I met a bunch of cute girls. I met a few patronizing assholes. I managed to wrench a few smiles out of even the most hardened, antisocial apathetic passerbys. I mean, who can resist not laughing at some poofy-haired kid bopping around to the sounds of Curtis Mayfield or Sly and the Family Stone, standing in the middle of the hallway with a stack of flyers proclaiming anonymity through a megaphone? My shameless enthusiasm and zeal seemed to leave a mark on those willing to be open to it. The only complaints I ever received were from this one particular cranky old lady, who claimed the volume of music was hazardous to the health of the Hunter Community and therefore illegal. I would turn it down as per her nagging, and then immediately turn it up once she was done trying to suck the very spirit out of my youthful shell; a spirit she needs to consume in order to prevent immediate decomposition, like a vampire, or witch. I even won the hearts of the maintenance staff and security there, who generally appreciated the music I was playing (heads bobbing, frowns 180'ing) and on the rare occasion would very politely ask me to turn it down just in case it might disturb nearby classes. I was once asked for a permit, but I somehow brushed that off. And to my greatest satisfaction, the aforementioned manager of the tabling schedule once walked by while I was doing my thing. We met eyes and a mutually understanding smile. I handed him one of my flyers. He mentioned something about me receiving an "F" for something. I laughed, not really hearing or understanding his underhanded accusation, and he moved along without a hitch. 

    The first publication in Fall '07 received a little over 40 submissions. The Spring 2008 issue yielded almost 90. At this rate, I hope I can muster up a very sizable, respectable encyclopedia's worth of Hunter College's most frank and unique writing by the time that I graduate next year. I don't feel any inclination to halt my hallway dance parties any time soon.
    I feel that it's a very valiant and respectable thing to feel a sense ownership towards your school. Your school is one of the few places in your life where you will be able to have direct influence amongst a large group of people. We are subject to the rules and regulations of various systems at all times, and I think we have forgotten how to not only demand something, but act without fear of reprisal by the police, or security, or administration. If a rule is not being enforced, it isn't a rule. When considering defying a rule or regulations at your school, instead of asking yourself "will I get in trouble," ask first of your conscience "am I causing trouble for others, and, if so, at what cost?" This is also assuming that what your are pushing at your school is, in your mind, truly serving the best interest of the campus body. I am not instructing people on how to manipulate the system for one's own selfish benefit. I am trying to inspire people who have fresh, bright ideas to let them grown and shine, by any means necessary.

Good luck to all of you this coming semester.

Comments

[Tania]

Okay, so that was a very quote-worthy post. My favorites are:

"Your school is one of the few places in your life where you will be able to have direct influence amongst a large group of people."

"If a rule is not being enforced, it isn't a rule."

I am considering putting them on my Facebook profile. I agree with you completely on these points though my own style has been to at least try changing the rules before I break them. Changing stupid rules reminds me of that fable about a guy who climbs over a log that's lying across his path rather than lifting it and then trips over it later. Then another guy comes along who just lifts the log right away so no one else falls. That being said, some logs just aren't worth lifting because they're so big and set in their ways that they'll either tire you out or roll over you.

I guess your approach is inspiring people to jump over. What I think we all need to hear more about from you is how you manage to slip under the red tape unnoticed (especially since you don't exactly blend into the furniture). In particular, it would be great to hear your analysis of how you managed to "brush off" that request for a permit and how you've succeeded in winning the hearts of maintenance and A/V personnel.

[Kody Tinnel]

On college campuses any rules that limit the ability for students to reach their true potential should be ignored, changed, and/or done away with.

Love the post.

And I agree that it is full of good quotes.