Praise and Blame

Staff

“What can everyone do? Praise and blame. This is human virtue, this is human madness.”

Friedrich Nietzsche


On whom do we place society’s ills? On whose doorstep do we place the blame. The leaders? The other? Or ourselves?

To what extent must singular individuals be held accountable? Certainly some individuals have more power and ability to alter discourse, policy and media than others. But rarely can one person change the world in a drastic manner. Even those individuals we memorialize for their ingenuity and creativity are products of their society, influenced by the circumstances of their time.

These truths are neither profound nor unknown and yet, we so often choose one set of shoulders to place responsibility on.

When President Fayneese Miller was first chosen as Hamline’s 20th president, the rhetoric running rampant on campus at time was excited. Here was a strong, creative thinking woman with a unique background centered on social justice.

She is still that person.

Last week, we published a letter from a student that called for President Miller to be more active in changing policies surrounding sexual violence at Hamline. While we agree that President Miller has the potential to make many changes (and we sincerely hope that she does) in this arena, we felt it was important to point out that despite her position, she is one person. The policies in place at colleges and universities across the country are influenced by forces infinitely greater than any single person—bigger than any student or professor—higher up than any administrator or staff member. To reiterate; our fledgling president is just one person.

One person who has had not yet completed her first year with us.

None of this is to say that we (students, faculty, community members) shouldn’t be demanding change. That we shouldn’t pressure her to focus on the things we feel are most important. Pressuring her is exactly what we should do. We need to be able to engage in productive, open dialogue with not only President Miller, but also the rest of the powers that be–the Board of Trustees and other administrative members.

So instead of simply demanding that she do more, let’s figure out how to work together. Because we need her and she needs us if we’re going to make our campus (and our world) a safer, more enjoyable place.