Well that didn't take long. Just three days of classes and someone has already lit a fire under my ass. As I mentioned in my "About Me" section, I run an anime club at my university. I haven't been doing it long (this is my second semester in office), but I have learned a thing or two. One of the essentials for running an anime club is having a room in which to hold meetings, preferably with a screen. That's about it. Simple right? Going to conventions, having Pokemon-theme parties, selling anime-themed goods - all of these things are extra frills. What an anime club needs is a room. Now, guess what I can't seem to get?
It all started Wednesday, when I dropped in to the School of Architecture to reserve the room we've been using for the past four semesters (two years in layman's terms). I was told that the room was off-limits because the school is applying for accreditation and no other rooms with projectors were available. All right, no problem, I'll just take this facility request form to Foster-Tanner, where we used to hold our meetings back when I was a freshman.
After jumping through a couple more hoops I finally meet with the professor responsible for room assignments on Thursday. He'll give me a room, but there's a class beforehand that will keep us from starting until 8:30 and we have to be out by 10. From the moment I first stepped foot into a FAMU Anime Club meeting, we have held meetings from 8 to 11. I'll take it for now, but let's just say I'm not happy.
There are several things wrong with this situation but the thing that irks me the most is how we were received at Foster-Tanner, the home of FAMU's Fine Arts department. Make no mistake, anime is an ART, and I would expect fellow artists to appreciate our needs. Instead I was treated with suspicion (because I wasn't the president who originally asked for this room, never mind that I was his handpicked successor) and asked if we "just sat around watching movies." To add insult to injury, I was also asked to name any Fine Arts majors in the club, as if they would somehow improve my chances of getting the room.
Now look here *climbs on soapbox* I am a student of this university. Money is being paid so that I can take advantage of the school and its resources, including buildings. University resources and equipment should be at each and every student's disposal if they demonstrate probable cause. Not only do I have probable cause, representing a REGISTERED STUDENT ORGANIZATION, but I have been here for three years. I know that there is a strict protocol for requesting rooms for reservation and I have followed it. I rarely run afoul of the university and its many regulations, and when I do I own up to my mistakes and pay the proper penalties. For you to give me such a hard time is more than a little unfair. If you think I come off as entitled, that's too bad; you're GODDAMN right I'm entitled to use that room - I already paid to use it when I paid my tuition.
We do not "just sit around watching movies." We are watching, discussing and showing our appreciation for ART. We recognize that this ART has influenced the development of other ARTS. And all we want is to increase people awareness of and appreciation for this ART. And all we need to do that is one. Fucking. ROOM. *disembarks from soapbox*
I will pay the professor another visit soon to express these sentiments. In the meantime I'll just pray the aneurysm that is definitely forming in my brain doesn't burst and end my suffering before I see this through.
No comments:
Post a Comment