On Friday 16th October 2015, the National Association of Philosophy Students had something close to a…..congress. Indeed, to refer to the meeting as a congress I believe would be iniquitous. Napsites had filled the venue already as at 3:30 pm, waiting for what was to be a congress – for some, their first in the department, for most, the time to ask ‘questions’. The congress, albeit, started on a good note – an opening prayer. Afterwards, the whole meeting seemed like an already orchestrated event by the ‘sole M.C.’. To start with, there was no reading of the minutes from the last congress which held last semester; perhaps, the responsible office felt no need for it. Now, last semester was quite some time ago, how are the issues discussed then to be assessed, first, by those who attended the congress, to jostle their memories back to those things that were discussed, settled, and/or adjourned, second, by students who were absent? Then there was a rundown of what the present administration has achieved so far, accomplishments which we of course really appreciate. Truth be told, the department is now the envy of many others. The large notice board is the envy of many and hardly will a new bill miss a place on it per week. The new ‘large’ fans, really are efficient, although I can count the number of times that I have met any of the fans on. The new generator is wonderful, at least power outage will not be a serious issue to deal with anymore. The new wall clock, well…The executives, I agree with the Head of Department, deserve some kudos.
However, after appellations and drums were rolled out, Napsites, bothered about so many other issues, had to call to notice, the manner in which the congress was being conducted. First was the casual nature of the congress, with students cheering and acting like they were at a child’s birthday party. Well-meaning students stood to raise points of order, Mr President was, however, not interested in “undue protocol”, because “we are all politicians” and all that matters is how “to move the department forward”.
Napsites, interested in matters that would affect them in the long run, kept their hands tirelessly high, obviously, some were more favoured than others. Alas! Where is our departmental constitution? Why is the congress coming now? Who can be a member of the Electoral Committee?- on what basis will their nominations be established? Why is our ‘package’ a book and a bedside alarm clock?- some of us paid for the dues through our noses, How do we return to our respective Halls if we do not want to stay out all night at the dinner venue? How many people partook in the poll to pick the departmental shirt?
These questions were only met with sarcasm. All that mattered during the congress was ‘prepare your receipt to collect your package’! Soon Napsites, having realised that they could be elsewhere significant, started marching out of the meeting. I overhead one say in Yoruba “wo, je ka ma lo, baba yi o ready lati gbo tiwa jare”, roughly translating to “look, let’s leave, this (old) man is not ready to listen to us”. No matter how these issues/questions might be regarded, they have ended up rousing more curiousity amongst the students…and again, issues were left not adjourned, but unresolved! One can only imagine what outsiders present during the congress would think of my department hereafter.
