We don’t agree with everything that is seen on TV, heard on the radio and read on the Internet. It’s impossible to agree with it all. Just because we don’t agree with something, no matter what it is, doesn’t mean we can’t give it a shot.

Some may not have liked Dan Choi, a former Army Lieutenant and West Point graduate discharged for revealing his sexual orientation, coming to campus. Some may not have liked former Defense Secretary Robert Gates speaking to the campus about his time in office and views on current affairs.

There are about 2,000 of you living on campus, never mind roughly 10,000 of you that commute to this campus. Where were you? What was more important?

Do we want to turn this into a habit for ourselves? This paper won’t begin to go into how the lack of student participation for anything on campus is silly and, unfortunately, has come to be expected.

The number of students that attended the Gates lecture, courtesy of the Robert C. Vance Foundation, was less than 40. That’s pathetic. Most of the people in attendance were not students, proven by all the grey and white hair spread around Welte Auditorium. The same goes for the Dan Choi lecture, which should have had better attendance. We ask, ‘Why?’

These lectures are for our benefit. They should ignite something within us. If that emotion is anger, great, talk about it. If that emotion is happiness, great, talk about it. These lectures are here for people to start discussions about the views they have. Sparking debates and conversations people normally wouldn’t have is what should have happened.

When we don’t attend these lectures we are missing the point. Stop ignoring these opportunities.

Why not take advantage of those opportunities? Bringing someone like Dr. Gates to campus, whether you agree with him or not, is arguably something that may never happen again. The CCSU Foundation did us a favor. We don’t think students understand that.

If you went to see Dr. Gates, which was free and open to the public, you would have gotten insight from a man who served under two different presidencies, a man who has a unique view of the world we live in. The enormity of his former position shouldn’t be overlooked, whether you agree with his decisions or not. If anything, disagreeing with him should give you more of a reason to take the opportunity to hear his thought process on sending our country to war. The article on his lecture, which many of you didn’t attend, reflects on something that we at The Recorder know was special.

With federal charges still over his head from when he handcuffed himself to the fence surrounding the White House in protest, Choi gave an insight to a part of war that we normally wouldn’t hear from. His lecture, also free and open to the public, was something special.

If we miss events like this now, what will we miss in the future? What are we setting ourselves up for? Shouldn’t we want to understand the other side’s point of view or even care to listen?

The CCSU mission statement states that we should be preparing ourselves to be “thoughtful, responsible and successful citizens,” yet, we fail to do that.

Isn’t that what higher education is all about, experiencing and doing things we wouldn’t normally do? If we don’t think these kinds of things are important then why are any of us in college? We need to think about that. If we don’t find these things important how are we well rounded individuals?

The lack of attendance to these lectures baffled us. So if you chose not to go, please tell us why. Try to convince us that these opportunities are not worth your time.