The Knox Student

Over the past few days a storm has been brewing on the Facebook page for the Union Board event Fish ‘n Chips.

This event page (http://tinyurl.com/3kxu36t) which hoped to spread the word about Wednesday’s event has somewhat backfired on Union Board, causing the organization to conduct a discussion with concerned students.

Wall posts have become fiery at times with complaints about animal cruelty and wasting of resources on unimportant events, while others take a more lighthearted approach, poking fun at the debate.

The event itself turned out positive, with lots of smiling students and long lines waiting to receive their new pet.

While the liberal arts school mentality lends itself to these debates and debate is good for any community, here is the big question we are asking you: is this effort well-spent or should we be debating more serious issues?

Certainly we are not trying to debate if animal cruelty is an issue here or if this is a good choice by Union Board, but certainly student time can be better spent.

Even if this is truly an important topic it will likely lose steam quickly, just like many other hot topics on campus that disappear before any major solace or agreement is found.

The fish that are being given out have been raised as feeder/pet fishes, and would likely see a similar fate if the event wasn’t being held.

If the event had traditional fish ‘n chips the discussion on the farming practices of the fish served would likely pale in comparison to the current debate.

Are there not more vital things to put your energy towards?

There seems to be little attention paid to the issues in the Galesburg community on the Knox campus.

Certainly the College likes to talk about how many volunteer hours are completed each year, but volunteer organizations and events seem to struggle to find enough volunteers to help out.

Even the President of the College has put in her two cents in attempts to grow help from students in volunteer efforts, calling for growth of the Knox-Galesburg connection.

While certainly students have other time consuming items in their life, if there is enough time in your day to complain about this, why not start a discussion on something worth fighting about?

We have seen the immediate results of the handing out, and it will be days and weeks till we see the true results of the event, but if it is like any other Knox argument, we will see it in our rearview mirrors before too long and the troubles in the surrounding communities and our world will still be ahead of us for the foreseeable future.