CSA: Don’t Whine For Me
(Kara Jagdeo/The Observer)
April 16, 2014
The Commuter Student Association (CSA) recently published a manifesto of challenges that commuters experience in hopes that professors will more fully acknowledge and assuage such hardships.
“10 Things Commuter Students Would Like Professors to Know About Us” includes points like “Please organize group projects in advance of the due date,” “We still have family obligations to attend to,” and “We hate being late for class.” The final point states “Commuters do not want to be treated any differently than residents.”
After a lengthy list of laments and complaints, requesting to be treated the same seems counterintuitive. Complaining of hardships but then demanding equal treatment highlights the fundamental flaws and weaknesses of the entire CSA and its flimsy purpose.
The CSA, an organization founded to assist commuter students in navigating through Fordham and coping with the academic and social setbacks of being a commuter, is an embarrassingly juvenile bureaucratic branch of student government. It is run with the presumption that commuters, by default, are unable to form meaningful friendships or succeed as well as residents, two assumptions that are both debilitating and untrue.
Many commuters travel within the boroughs, and, having taken public transportation in high school for four years, are more than familiar with the machinery of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). For Metro North, New Jersey (NJ) Transit, Long Island Railroad (LIRR) and other transportation patrons, similar comfort and understanding of each system is an easily learned virtue.
It is not inherently difficult for commuters to attend Fordham, and the noted challenges of college (time management, balancing academic and social life, having a job) are not exclusive to commuting students. However, the bedrock of CSA is rooted on such claims of disadvantage.
Distilling these myths allows us to truthfully discern and deconstruct what CSA actually is: A friendship welfare program, a bureaucratic safety-net spun out of no real need or value, and, above all, a waste of money.
Detractors will argue that CSA is a club, and so it is entitled to its own objectives and activities. It is my understanding that a school club connects students who share similar lifestyles, interests or passions. Is traveling to and from college an actual source of connection? In that sense, should we also have clubs for people who brush their teeth, own a cell phone or eat breakfast?
Commuting is a trivial thread of connection, especially in New York City. Unlike the Yoga Club, Black Student’s Alliance, or Mock Trial, CSA has no objectives or shared passion between its members besides lamenting their woes and spending money on food.
The Commuter Freshman Mentor (CFM) Program, the missionaries of CSA, makes me question whether I attend college or middle school. My CFM often messages me offering her help and guidance. I am horrified at the questions she might receive and answer: “How do I check out a library book?”, “Where are the bathrooms?”, “What is a subway?”, just to imagine a few. The whole concept of the mentoring program seems antithetical to the reality of a college experience: a time for independence and higher educational pursuits.
What is more alarming than the rickety foundation of CSA is its breadth of representation. Although I am not a member of CSA, the club speaks for me and all other commuter students as if our experiences are dogmatically similar. Sure, I have been stuck on trains and late for class a few times, but these anomalies don’t require an excuse or a committee. This recent publication is an embarrassment to people like myself, who deal with the side effects of commuting and don’t need Fordham’s commuter apparatus to dry my tears with.
I am not denying the efficacy of the system, nor the organization and fervor of its leadership. I am only suggesting that this association downplay its complaining, clarify who it speaks for and focus on legislating actual policies commuter students may benefit from, like discounted traveling stipends or greater access to work study programs.
Choosing to commute is a conscious decision, a choice inspired predominantly by the financial upsides of a lower tuition bill. I chose to commute to Fordham because I would be $50,000 less in debt by staying at home in Brooklyn. The difficulties of commuting are noted, and are occasionally bothersome, but whining about a self-made choice has absolutely no grounding.
Professors: I have an 11th point I’d like to tack onto the list: Not all commuters experience and share these qualms.
CSA: Please don’t whine for me. I can very well manage on my own.
hydrophobic interaction chromatography • Dec 12, 2017 at 3:01 pm
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I was interested to know how you center yourself and
clear your head prior to writing. I’ve had trouble clearing my thoughts in getting my ideas out.
I truly do take pleasure in writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are wasted simply just trying to figure out how to begin. Any ideas or tips?
Appreciate it!
FCLC Commuter Class of '81 • Oct 11, 2014 at 10:21 am
When I was at what was then the College at Lincoln Center, everyone was a commuter. No dorms. We were truly a NYC school. There was even a transit strike during the spring semester of my Senior year. I chose to stay home for college.
I commuted. We all commuted. When you’re a native New Yorker you don’t whine. Present day commuters: deal with it.
An FCLC (Resident) Alumni • Apr 25, 2014 at 1:04 pm
Pardon me – a clarification to my previous post: the four references to “CAB” were supposed to be “CSA.” As I didn’t have contact with either of these groups during my time on campus (not a commuter, and participated in other groups than CAB) I seem to recall that even during my years at FCLC, I mixed both of them up in conversation on occasion.
An FCLC (Resident) Alumni • Apr 25, 2014 at 12:10 pm
As a former McMahon resident and member of student government who, in all honesty, shared some of the *general* sentiment I believe this article is trying to get at, I unfortunately believe this is something of a short-sighted, foolhardy critique. And at best, this article uses laughably unnecessary, overly offensive terms (“whining”) to color what might otherwise be a somewhat-legitimate push-back on a common FCLC point of argument.
To start off: “Writing this article and putting your name on it.” While this might represent “bravery” and/or “journalistic integrity,” I regret to inform you, Mr. Guerin, that sometimes pragmatism and politics should predominate above and beyond one’s actual beliefs. You appear to be a freshmen. You have, it seems, in your few short months here, recognized one of our campus’s major ongoing hot topics, the “resident/commuter rift.” Bravo! Your contentions are not without merit, to the degree that you are writing an article upon a topic which gives rise to perennial discussion.
However, once more… You are a freshmen. You may not have realized that this… “audacious” explication of why commuters must “stop whining” is directed at the very people who, as I will proceed to show, will dominate the social atmosphere you are likely to spend – wait for it – your next three years within. Some people can deal with, and in fact enjoy, being socially marginalized. However, on balance, most do not, and you have just made a pronounced step towards being marginalized by what is, regardless of your contentions, the group with whom you have the most in common, with whom your interests will (typically) best align, with whom you have the greatest statistical possibility and/or probability of being friends…
But undaunted, you have just written an article that will have a number of effects. (1) To say the least (and this is, I believe an understatement), I expect it will gain you some measure of notoriety. (2) To be fair, yes. Perhaps it will gain you a precious few supporters.
Unfortunately however, (3) I believe that the “notoriety” will be mostly negative, to the degree that for any single person who agrees with you, you will greatly anger many more. Most particularly, your fellow commuters.
Now, I do not know if you are one of those commuters who spends most of their social time with residents. If you are, that is splendid, because after this article, I’m reasonably certain you will become something of a pariah in the commuter community. The vast, vast swath of public sentiment, on these points and throughout the FCLC community, is dramatically opposed to 90% of what you said. Vis-a-vis what I previously implied about loosing more persons than you gain with a move like this, I implore you to keep in mind the old saw, that what we call a leader with no followers is “just some guy taking a walk.”
This article represents, on the whole, you “leading” us (and here, I mean the readers in general) on a remarkably long walk off an exceptionally short pier, both in terms of “winning you friends,” and as well as having any hope of actually (assuming, arguendo, your contentions to be true) achieving anything substantial. Why, you ask? Well, your months on this campus which gave rise to the observations that clearly prompted this article should have made the following clear to you as well:
1. Commuters are half of this campus
2. For the most part, commuters — and here, I’m speaking particularly of the ones who dominate CAB and who will be most outraged at this article — care deeply about being “present” and “counted” on this campus, and as a result, tend to actually dominate most clubs and groups, not the least of which is USG. For the record, if you have any doubt as to this point, take a second and ask around about the composition of various organizations’ e-boards. The crossover is shocking! The members of CAB — and in fact, the e-board of CAB, even — will be found, I promise you, to dominate many, many other e-boards! And also, will be over-represented, proportionally, within the general membership of the clubs themselves! These commuters who are going to be most angered at this article are literally the most participatin’ folks in these here parts!
3. As you imply by your hedging language, you understand that not all things CAB does or says on these points are entirely without merit, or plainly constitute “whining.” (Despite the fact that you still tar it with the same brush by deeming it, effectively, all to be “whining.” Why did you choose to use this word?!?)
This is all to say that when commuters dominate 50% of the campus yet participate much, much more than residents, and when the weight of the majority sentiment among commuters is plainly opposed and in fact takes offense to much of what you are saying, this article is at best, an exercise in relieving oneself in a northward direction, whilst the winds blow to the south. At worst, you are – with, I shall admit, some remarkable flair, as to your method of doing so – banishing yourself to the margins of the FCLC social community for your next three years, insofar as the major, moving parts of that social community are dominated by, and read this article through the lenses of… the people you just railed against.
In any case, I wish you good luck with the fallout from this. Lord knows, I was irked myself at what I sometimes viewed to be “commuter whining,” but while there’s the obvious set of reasons I just discussed for never opening my mouth on the subject, that was never even my first reason for (not) doing so. Rather, my profound respect for the genuine differences in what commuters deal with as opposed to residents, and my honest admiration for the many commuters who are, as a result of not living within walking distance, willing to stay on campus from perhaps 8AM (having woken up at 5am, in many cases) through 11PM just so they can participate in clubs… that is why I would never have spoken to, and at the end of the day, do not support any of your contentions in this article.
The commuters who, as you say, “whine,” are commuters who have these concerns because when they pull commutes and days like I previously described, do so specifically because otherwise (lacking the residence hall community) they would have no community to speak of, at all, for their four years of college. Asking for what amounts to mere “consideration” — be if from professors, or their peers — is not “whining.” It is not even, to be sure, a “demand,” more a “reminder;” that as commuters, there are differences, and they must be taken into account, rather than absolutely and overtly deferred to. Nothing you articulated suggests that the commuters who — again, it’s your use of this word — “whine” are doing anything that comes close to resembling the kind of arrogant presumption that they are a disenfranchised, maligned class of persons on this campus, who by raising such concerns are expecting unfair or unreasonable deference.
As you were clear to state, you do not identify with those of your fellow commuters who have these concerns. That, I suppose, is your prerogative. However, it is unlikely that within the chapters of that book on “Winning Friends and Influencing People” you will find many pages dedicated to excoriating your colleagues in an open forum, on a point unlikely to be received favorably from the get-go, and moreover, doing so as if they are ill-behaved, self-important 5 year olds (once again, your use of the word “whine”). Nonetheless, you do so, sounding as if you think they have neither a leg to stand on, nor a legitimate query to raise.
Cheers, Mr. Guerin. Good luck with your next three years at FCLC!
Fordham Commuter • Apr 25, 2014 at 12:08 pm
Dear Confused Student,
I have read your article in great depth and note the excessive amount of opinionated content that it contains, ones that I believe to be a product of poor research, and an example of an underlying delusion.
So if I may, as a Commuter, I will address the various concerns you have with the Commuting Students Association, in the manner of your article.
Before I address the various points in your article, I noticed several issues representative of a hypocrisy. You don’t want CSA to speak on your behalf, but your article in effect is designed to speak for Commuters as well. Don’t deny it, if this was a personal issue you’d take it up with CSA, but your decision to publish this is under the presumption that many people will agree with you, though if I were you I wouldn’t be so quick to assume that.
There is not a single interview in this article. Why in the world didn’t you interview anyone? You talk down CSA, the CFM program, and everything they stand for, calling CSA “a friendship welfare program” and calling CFM “the missionaries of CSA.” First let me ask this, do you even go here? Because if you so much as tripped over the “Welcome” mat at Fordham’s entrance, you would know what CSA does without having to make any assumptions. Not a single quote from someone from at CSA, and not a single commuting student, each of which would’ve shed enough light to prevent this delusional construction.
As to the part where you state “requesting to be treated the same seems counter-intuitive…” let me ask you this: Where were you during freshman registration day? If you were able to register without a problem, to which I ask where your magic wand is, or whether you somehow slept through the entirety of it, let me enlighten you about how registration went. On the night prior to freshman registration, the system crashed, a terrible thing to be sure. The following morning when registration started at 7:00AM, nobody could log in to register for their classes. So what happened? Residents, since they have the blessing of living next door and can run over to the academic building without going outside, lined up outside of the Deans’ offices in order to be registered manually.
As much as I’d like for the Floo Network or some form of teleportation to exist, they do not. So what was a commuter to do? While residents were lining up outside of the Deans’ offices, the Commuters were cursed with not being on the campus. Some of them called in, and those who were lucky enough, got registered over the phone. But there are a lot more commuters who needed to register, and some of them ran out of their house at 7:00AM, only to arrive at a time when their classes had been taken.
Oh yeah, we totally don’t need a branch of government that deals with purely Commuter issues, because who cares about equal opportunity registration?
Let’s move to other parts of your delusion, shall we?
Now as to your point that it is not inherently difficult for commuters to attend Fordham. Just because it’s easy for you, doesn’t mean it’s easy for anybody else. For a person who complains about CSA speaking for people who do not necessarily want to be spoken for, you make some very general assumptions. Though since this is a clearly thought out article, I will wait patiently for the second part to this piece, where you present the data that you definitely used to back up your statements. For not doing so would be bad journalistic practice, if not a breach of journalistic integrity.
Let’s move on. “Commuting is a trivial thread of connection.” Again, do you even go here? There is an underlying connection between commuters that is stemmed from the fact that they’re not residents. Students who are residents have a great deal more interaction with other residents, at the basis of which are dorm mates, and followed by everyone that lives on their floor, and otherwise. So whenever they’re not in class, they could be interacting with their fellow residents. Do you know where commuters generally go? Home. They go home. And if they don’t go home, they’re either participating in something at Fordham, have a job, or with their friends. But commuters have the disadvantage of not always being near other commuters for the entirety of the day, so interacting with people enough to help build a friendship is usually limited to class hours.
“Is traveling to and from college an actual source of connection? … should we also have clubs who brush their teeth…?” Interesting, but a very improbable outcome. But should this happen, you can make your own CSA, the Confused Students Association. You would definitely make a good President.
Fordham is about making everyone feel at home. And there are students who go through hardships that you don’t know about. And just because they may have commuted before college doesn’t mean they didn’t have their hardships. Here you have a benevolent organization that gives away freebies and hosts events to make life at Fordham that much better, but you’re dismissive of all those folks. Climb out from under the rock, Mr. Scrooge.
“I am horrified at the questions she [CFM] might receive and answer.” Why do you even care? The point is that people ask them, and the CFMs are nice enough to answer. Why is this even a problem you have? You don’t like that we need to help freshmen with basic questions that you think are elementary because you think it’s antithetical to the college experience? Well here’s a suggestion: Don’t ask help for anything. The only thing that should matter to you is your experience, so feel free to never ask help for anything. But don’t project your problems with the CFMs on the CFMs themselves, just because you don’t see a point in them doesn’t mean they don’t have a reason for existing. Your absurd assumption that your approval is required is something that should be revisited, because you grossly overestimate how important you are.
“What is more alarming than the rickety foundation of CSA…” Please cite me the parts of their constitution that you believe result in this rickety foundation. I shall await this in the follow-up. “Although I am not a member of CSA…” Clearly not. Otherwise you would know what CSA does, which you have dutifully declared that you do not.
“Stuck on trains, late for class… don’t require an excuse or a committee.” And who elected you?
“Choosing to commute is a conscious decision, a choice inspired predominantly by the financial upside of a lower tuition bill.” No, it’s not entirely a decision. People who live close enough to Fordham to commute will not be granted housing unless there is an opening, which is not often, if not rare. But I trust you can prove me otherwise because you interviewed the people who make these decisions.
“Not all commuters experience and share these qualms.” Again, where is your proof? Did you talk to anybody about this assumption? Or are you reading tea leaves? If you have issues with what CSA does, like giving out cupcakes or hosting events, too bad. Don’t take their giveaways, don’t go to their events. They’re not a negative impact on your existence, and yet you insist that because you don’t see a point in what they do, they shouldn’t do it. Whatever you say, Emperor.
“CSA: Please don’t whine for me. I can very well manage on my own.” Fine. CSA won’t whine for you. But don’t coming whining to CSA when you realize how much you need them.
Sincerely,
A Non-Oblivious Spirited Commuter
Laur • Apr 25, 2014 at 10:53 am
I noticed the other day they were giving me a cupcake by the elevators for being a commuter. I don’t need your pity CSA. Being a commuter can suck at times, but I’m sure so can being a resident. CSA should stop trying to group all of us commuters together just because we all use public transportation. For most of us it’s something we’ve been doing since we were children and are used to.
Renee • Apr 25, 2014 at 1:52 am
I think your article misses a few major points. First off, I do not agree with your claim that commuters don’t share a similar enough lifestyle to form their own club. Many commuters, especially those with an average hour commute, end up having a different college experience than their resident peers. When it comes to the social aspect commuters must: take into account commutes home after late nights out, attend to familial responsibilities on a daily basis, and form friendships without having the luxury of living with classmates. I’m not saying these things are impossible but they are real concerns that many commuters think about. I am also sure that residents have their own issues that they deal with that commuters may not be able to relate to and there is nothing wrong with that. Commuters and residents have different lifestyles and that’s that. Secondly, residents have roommates and RAs etc… readily available for residents if they need anything. I don’t think it is wrong that commuters have CSA and CFMs as their own network of support. What really is wrong is the fact that you made commuters out to be a whiny sorry bunch. We go through a lot juggling our academic, social, and family lives in a way residents don’t. To negatively generalize us and label us in this way propels this notion that we are second class to the residents. So when we say things like “Commuters do not want to be treated any differently than residents,” we are directing it to people like you who decide to devalue our existence. So, let the CSA do their thing. They aren’t harming anyone and all they really want to do is act on their shared interest of giving commuters a voice.
Lawrence Schober • Apr 25, 2014 at 1:17 am
This is what journalism is all about — asking tough questions directed at society’s greatest antagonists. Keep it up, hombré–hey, the NY Times Building is only 2 subway stops away. Somone give this guy a raise!
FordhamStudent • Apr 25, 2014 at 1:00 am
I’m so happy this article was written. I moved off campus my sophomore year yet for some reason Fordham calls me a “commuter” when any other school would just consider me someone living off campus.
No I don’t want to be treated any other difference. And no I don’t desire the same services as someone commuting from their home with mom and dad.
It also bothers me how this campus revolves it’s doors around “commuters”. We rarely have events on the weekends. why? because of commuters?
I understand your hardships. But you should still be a full time student like everyone else. Residents/OffCampusStudents don’t ask for a break because we don’t get to see our family except for few breaks.
Anonymous • Apr 25, 2014 at 12:57 am
I am a commuter and I will be the first to say I’m not a huge fan of CSA. However, I think it helps those who don’t have as much access to a community as residents do. You try to water down commuting as something not “inherently difficult” but as a Brooklyn resident I don’t believe you’ve experienced the troubles those trekking from New Jersey or Long Island have to deal with. You attack CSA for whining about situations not so difficult in your eyes yet here you are doing the same exact thing, whining. If you’re embarrassed at how enthusiastic CSA is about being a commuter and how they complain about their plight, how about you just ignore it? I mean is it really so distracting that you have to attack an organization aimed at building a community for those who don’t form relationships with fellow students as easily as those who live on campus or alone without parents?
Loreal • Apr 24, 2014 at 10:23 pm
i think it’s really disheartening that a Fordham student hasn’t taken the time to fully assess the commuter population or taken into account the amazing things CSA and CFMs do for both the commuter and resident communities. Shadow a CFM for a day and I can guarantee that a regular thought for him/her is: “I hope my mentees are okay. Let me check on them again,” rather than “Yo, do my mentees know where the bathrooms are?”
As a former CFM, I think I’m qualified enough to say that CSA and the CFMs genuinely care about everyone. They don’t give a shit about money. They care about your lives: both within the walls and outside the walls of Fordham. I am truly sorry that you haven’t discovered what an invaluable resource the CSA program is for our community. If you are unhappy with CSA, I suggest you actually join the organization and provide suggestions as to how it can be improved.
Residents and commuters BOTH have problems that they’d like professors to be aware of. No one is whining. We’ve got more important things to do.
Lastly, I hope you take the time to revisit why you’re a writer and why you’ve written this article. Is it to whine? Is it to change something? Is it to make a difference? Is it to move your readers? Is it to grab attention? Writers must be conscience of the other party’s perspective. Writers must take a certain truth that they are trying to communicate and be certain of that truth.
Truth: Fordham, CSA, and CFMs have a strong desire to connect students with each other and the college. If you can’t see that, I suggest you write your next article on the e-board members, club members, and CFMs involved with this population. Interviewing people may help your article. Getting to know a group before you judge them may help, too.
M. • Apr 24, 2014 at 8:13 pm
WOW you really have a chip on your shoulder, author. Yes, it’s a conscious decision to not spend $1,600 a month on a shared bedroom/bunk bed, to find affordable housing when school costs around 40,000 a year. But where do you get off criticizing a club that tries to make it easier? Being a commuter presents a number of challenges such as unexpected subway delays because some asshole decided to get food poisoning and cause a couple hundred people to wait for their paramedics. Or a super that promised to be at the apartment by 8 to fix the broken lock on the door and didn’t show up until 11. Not ALL of us live with our parents who can take care of those things for us. Asking to be treated like any other student means asking the professors to be equally understanding of a commuters flu bug or family crisis as a residents, but also understanding that commuters have additional challenges. We may not get the bedbugs the residents have, but we may have to go to urgent care instead of the campus health center. You’re a mega-douche. Very eloquent, but mega-douche nonetheless. Good day, sir. May the bed bugs be forever in your favor.
Caitlin • Apr 24, 2014 at 8:11 pm
Not to mention professors also commute…you think they sympathize because you have to take a subway? EVERYONE HAS TO TAKE A SUBWAY TO GET FROM POINT A TO POINT B IN NYC. Whether you’re commuting to school or commuting to a party, it’s not something to complain about. However, if commuters should chose to identify as a group and feel a connection with each other, so be it, but don’t bring down others with your complaints of “hardship”