How things have changed

Every time that I visit my family back in Port Elizabeth, we sit in the garden and I fill them in on entertaining details about university life and on every occasion my godmother and mother are both shocked at how things have changed. I mentioned in a previous blog, “Rhodes pool full of fully-clothed Rhodents”, that my godmother, an ex-Rhodent herself, used to swim in the pool alone at 10 at night, with no worries in the world. In fact it was extremely relaxing and she recommended that I do it too. Of course we all know that it is suicide of some form to expose yourself so openly to crime. Of course safety has changed from then to now but another issue that fascinates these ex-Rodents is that of talking during lectures. Although they drank just as much as we do and were hanging just as happily, my godmother explained that it did not once cross their minds to talk; it was just not the done thing. Another incident is the bitch fights that happen at our residence. I, too have had some troubles with some of my residence friends and still blush when I think of how childish all of us were. There were many other “bitch fights” that went on throughout the year and when I would report back on these, god mommy stated that there was never such immaturity while she was at Rhodes. The list continues and their jaws continue to drop and I continue to cringe under their worrying stares because I am part of this generation and one student’s action is reflected onto a global stage and we are cloaked in its stereotype.

Security scare

In light of the muggings, rape and assault that happened in worrying abundance this past weekend my friend and I began discussing campus security as we hurried through the streets to her brothers’ house. As we recalled students were mugged in the drama department at four in the afternoon, which is not an unreasonable time to be walking around campus or to be practising in the drama department. We also recalled that there is always a security guard who sits outside of the drama department. This observation led us to wonder about the standard of the security that us Rodent have to fork out for annually. We also began to wonder about the safety of these Blue Routes that are supposedly there to protect us from crime. But if the security guard at the drama department could do nothing to stop three armed thieves from mugging students in the light of day, how on earth can we expect them to do it in the dead of night? We know that security is never full proof but we as students need some form of reassurance that if we press the SOS buttons on the Blue Route that someone will actually come to our rescue. If we have to go through endless fire drills to illustrate that we can get ourselves to safety, should the guards then not have to do the same to show us that that too can secure our safety, which seems to be fading at a rapid pace everyday.