An abundance of apathy

Jacqueline Perlin
Assistant News Editor
Apathy is a state of indifference or a lack of interest.
The student population at a university should be just the opposite – a population of informed and passionate individuals.
Apparently not.
I recently interviewed the mayor of Toronto, Rob Ford, to get his opinion on a number of university-student related issues since I was under the impression many students cared about Toronto issues. Please note: York University is situated in Toronto.
However, I was terribly mistaken. When I went out to gather student reaction to complement the interview, I found students essentially disinterested in the topic.
Most didn’t care about Ford’s policies; even worse, many didn’t even know who the mayor of Toronto was. Perhaps I was mistaken in thinking that even if you don’t live in the city, you’d know who the mayor is – it is, after all, one of the largest cities in the world.
I, for one, remember always recognizing the name of the mayor of Toronto, even though I was born and raised just outside of the city. I always figured that Toronto issues were especially important since it is home to 17 percent of Canada’s population, and is the most diverse city on the globe.
Nonetheless, after realizing the student body was blissfully unaware of issues in Toronto, and specifically the initiatives of the new mayor, I took it upon myself to narrow the questions I would ask the student body – asking them simply which problem most troubled Toronto.
The response? The TTC.
Not one student failed to complain about the transportation issues within Toronto, and while this is a legitimate concern, it boggles my mind that students couldn’t think of any other problems with a city.

What about safety? The University Heights neighbourhood in which York is situated is commonly known as a “high priority neighbourhood” of Toronto, yet not one student voiced their concerns with regards to the city of Toronto taking a stance on ensuring the safety of communities around the city.
I have a professor who consistently reminds me that the modern student is an apathetic student, concerned only with the issues foremost in their lives (e.g. friends, school, etc.) and simply fails to care for anything outside their realm of interest.
I, however, often believed he was mistaken – until now, when the students of York have, sadly, proven me otherwise.