FoBoBlo

If there’s one thing that GWU students love, it’s bragging about how many awesome politicos they got to see during their tenures at the University. This past year also proved that GWU students don’t mind putting in the man hours to get earn a prestigious speaker. Unlike many universities, the George Washington University doesn’t hand out wads of cash to pull in big names. Sometimes this leads to fiascos like the 2004 Trachtenberg + 4 other people who included Wolf Blitzer commencement disaster. Sometimes, though, it helps highlight the power that college students really have to help.

It should be impossible to attend a school like GWU and be unaware of the enormous amount of privilege you hold to get there. To be able to attend a four year university with a fairly good national reputation, to pay for its exorbitant cost, and then to live and work around the DC area, all of those things don’t happen by accident. It’s a mixture of hard work, good luck, and possible (probable) help by being privileged, in any number of ways, that get you there. Some students might have pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, but most probably had a little help from the structural inequalities that exist in America. That’s not a judgment on anyone, it’s simply the way things are.

FLOTUS Michelle Obama’s speech to the graduating class of 2010, as she accepted an honorary doctorate in public service, was an inspiring screed to the students to keep using their privilege for good in the world. GW students logged in 163,980 hours of service, beating her request of 100,000 hours, and showing that GWU students are aware of their unique position in the world to help others. She urged students to “Keep going. Keep giving. Keep engaging,” and most of the reactions were positive. After all, these are the students that wanted to make a difference.

Not all the reactions were positive though....