So last night fellow Tembusian, Cedric, posted an open letter to the upcoming CSC. The letter was an expression of concern that the college is losing focus, or its essence of what it was meant to be: a place of intellectual learning. It then encouraged the current candidature for CSC to consider how they, as future student leaders, can set the college back on track.
That, as well as the discussion that ensued its posting on facebook, really caught my interest for one reason: that there are others like me who are frustrated about the way the college is being run. (Thank goodness!)
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
3rd CSC Elections
So the candidates in the running for the 3rd CSC have just been announced. I'm really looking forward to how things will turn out. As it stands it's interesting that there are only twelve people running for a committee of eleven. I'm not quite sure how to read the low pick-up rate... I'm guessing it's probably not just pure reluctance, but poor publicizing for nominations on the other end. Despite the narrow selection, I really hope the right people are stepping forward. The last thing we need right now is a committee that perpetuates the college's current state. I think quite a few changes need to be made, and a new student government is ideal to bring about those changes.
It'll be quite sad for the one person who doesn't get voted in though. It'll be a fight against being the last. I wonder how this will affect their campaigning. We'll just have to wait and see.
It'll be quite sad for the one person who doesn't get voted in though. It'll be a fight against being the last. I wonder how this will affect their campaigning. We'll just have to wait and see.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Tembusu Forum: Mock US Presidential Elections
Hello again. I know I haven't been doing a good job updating this blog regularly, so here's my way of making up for that with a quick post (while my thoughts are still fresh!).
So we just had yet another Tembusu Forum. This Forum was a bit different from the usual, in that it was framed as an electoral debate. The idea of replicating the ongoing Presidential Debate was not only interesting, but quite fun too. It's only a pity that the content of the discussion did not live up to its potential.
So we just had yet another Tembusu Forum. This Forum was a bit different from the usual, in that it was framed as an electoral debate. The idea of replicating the ongoing Presidential Debate was not only interesting, but quite fun too. It's only a pity that the content of the discussion did not live up to its potential.
Thursday, October 18, 2012
On Community: Orientation
I've been thinking a lot about what 'community' means, especially in a college like Tembusu, but I've been struggling to find the words to spell my thoughts out. It's a much bigger and complex idea than the word seems to represent, so I'll try to take things in small steps and build up my thoughts on what the Tembusu community means and how it functions.
It seems natural to begin this discussion from the same starting point Tembusu residents have in this domain: orientation. Orientation is essential to the community-building process. The main objective of orientation is to induct new students into the college environment, to introduce them to their peers and to unite them. A lot of activities during orientation deals with "breaking the ice" and "getting to know each other". Sometimes I think of orientation as a period of enhanced social interaction; participants are generally expect and are expected to be open to interacting with new people. More interestingly I think that this interaction in orientation sets the way its participants interact for the rest of the academic year (or semester).... so obviously orientation has a strong bearing on how students in this college later socialize.
It seems natural to begin this discussion from the same starting point Tembusu residents have in this domain: orientation. Orientation is essential to the community-building process. The main objective of orientation is to induct new students into the college environment, to introduce them to their peers and to unite them. A lot of activities during orientation deals with "breaking the ice" and "getting to know each other". Sometimes I think of orientation as a period of enhanced social interaction; participants are generally expect and are expected to be open to interacting with new people. More interestingly I think that this interaction in orientation sets the way its participants interact for the rest of the academic year (or semester).... so obviously orientation has a strong bearing on how students in this college later socialize.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
The Great Wall of Cinnabusu
Hello again! Sorry for the hiatus... I really wanted to do a post during recess week, but as it turned out I got too busy before I could even start writing. Anyway, I really should be studying right now but I figured if I don't do this post now, I wouldn't ever. Plus the list of things I want to blog about is slowly piling, so I'd like to get things rolling once again.
I'm not sure if many of you would know about the Wall in the Dining Hall saga last semester, but that is what's motivating this post today. Just so everyone is on the same page, the massive dining hall that Cinnamon and Tembusu College shares has a mobile divider that splits the dining hall nicely in two. For a while it became a regular practice to put up this divider, commonly referred to as "the wall". I think the wall was put up every Monday and Tuesday back then... but it seemed like the wall was drawn out on other days as well.
I'm not sure if many of you would know about the Wall in the Dining Hall saga last semester, but that is what's motivating this post today. Just so everyone is on the same page, the massive dining hall that Cinnamon and Tembusu College shares has a mobile divider that splits the dining hall nicely in two. For a while it became a regular practice to put up this divider, commonly referred to as "the wall". I think the wall was put up every Monday and Tuesday back then... but it seemed like the wall was drawn out on other days as well.
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