At the end of our four years, we are washed out past the bar, and a new generation takes our place. Up until now, Wesleyan has been a very Darwinistic place. Either the new recruits survive or they don’t, and the only ones who could help are the old, wise ones. Unfortunately, when they leave they usually take their experience with them. For Wesleyan student groups, this means deluging untested leaders at the start of a new year with the burden of running an organization and of recruiting new members. Faculty watch as some groups sink, and others struggle on, passively noting who seems strong at the moment, and ruminating over the fates of the giants of the past. At the same time, schools of eager students pass by, doing academic research that would be of great use to student groups, but rarely make the connection between their classes and activism. Many Sociology and Earth and Earth Sciences projects deal with Wesleyan and Middletown, but few use their work to actually help change the situation they report on. Invariably, a few years later, both the students and the researchers are gone, and the work is lost forever.

 To give a particularly frightening example, at the University of Pennsylvania, in 1989 students fought hard against a proposal to build a Department of Defense funded scientific research building on Penn’s campus. They obtained an overwhelming amount of support, and forced the proposal to be dropped. Exactly five years later, the administration of Penn revived the proposal, but took care to stress that the money (actually a small fraction of it) would come from the Board of Trustees. This time, there was no student awareness of the Department of Defense. funding, so there was no opposition. The Center was completed last year. What battles have Wesleyan groups won, only to be forgotten or re-fought a few years later?

 The histories of Wesleyan groups are buried in file cabinets at the WSA and in rotting copies of The Argus. Research papers complete their short life span and die with the course for which they were written. And from afar, faculty notice all of this, but aren’t asked to share their knowledge.

 What can be done about all of this? Can’t we use our own histories, with their past campaigns and alliances, as precedent to strengthen our projects today? A dedicated member or two in an organization can dig through the old records, contact old alumni, read ancient Argus issues, and talk to sympathetic faculty. Once this research is completed, it’s easy to save it on the web, maintain the site, and give copies of the site to the University archivist and the WSA to ensure that it won’t be lost. You can even wrap the disks in flyers and news articles about your events. At the same time, get to know teachers in departments that are connected to your cause, and save their names for future groups. Teachers, and researchers, let groups know that you’re interested in their issues, or email Wesunity (wesunity@wesleyan.edu), and we’ll help make the connections. Otherwise, how else will they be able to find you? Finally, groups, act today with an eye on tomorrow, or else any victories will be short-lived. Your opponents are waiting for you to graduate, but they aren’t counting on your digital immortality.
 

Smith is a member of the class of 2001.