The Panther Prints

January 14, 1997

I feel bad. No, that’s not true. I feel really bad.

I’m sitting here read- ing the Student Council’s letter I received over the holidays, the one explain- ing the building fund; and I can not help but feel bad. After all, last month I claimed the SU were ego- masturbators, thieves whose misplaced morality

deserved nothing less than —

scorn and derision from the people they represent. I now understand, though. Thanks to that letter, I know what the problem is.

It’s not politics and prom- ises, and it has nothing to do with right and wrong. It is my fault you see.

I have no pride. Pan- ther Pride, that is.

You see, only a person without pride would con- cern themselves with man- datory donations. Only the arrogant and pretentious would presume to hold the council to their word when a higher purpose exists. It is the selfish and the weak, not the good, who with- draw their money from the building fund to spend it

for their own pleasure. I am nothing, zip, nada. Merely a vain and self-absorbed man whose worth falls somewhere above pond scum and somewhere be- low a sac of reprocessed bat-vomit. Why?

Because I have no pride. Panther Pride, that is.

If I had pride, I would understand the true mean- ing of what an education is. It is not the courses I take or the essays I write. It has nothing to do with the books I read, the level of my knowledge or the pro- fessors who provide it. With pride, I would see that the value of my degree is only relative to the beauty and appeal of the buildings in which I study. That’s it. Who cares what’s taught inside of them. It is the buildings themselves that count.

Why else would some- one want to come to UPEI to learn? Imagine how many people have visited our campus only to say: “What!! No pleasant place to gather, eat and study?” Can you conceive of the thousands of brilliant minds we have lost to other campuses because of our University’s out-of-date look? It is a wonder that past graduates amounted to anything at all with the state of facilities we’re in. But that is all going to change now. Thanks to the vision of our administra- tion and our Student Coun- cil, a degree at UPEI will mean something again.

So I will rise above my basic nature and leave my voluntary donation in the hands of the visionar- ies, thanking them for their chastisements. . Because, someday, maybe years from no, I will be applying for a

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very important job. My interviewers will have my resume in front of them, pulled from a pile of hundreds of over-qualified candidates. One of them will raise their head and look at me, saying:

“It says here that you studied at UPEI. Would that be the university with all those incredible build- ings?”

Then, leaning back in my chair, I will raise my arms in a now confident stretch. Light from the sun outside the windows will bounce off my graduation ring and shine in their faces, exposing the gleam of envy in their eyes. My back straight, my head held high, I will say:

“Yes. That’s one.”

And I will say it with pride. Panther Pride. Amen.

the

United Way -

PRINCE EDWARD ISLANO