Let the world hear your voice sing

It’s not just the stories making international headlines that are important to Imperial students. As well as giving different viewpoints on current events, Comment showcases any other issues that are significant to your life. Whether you think that the food in the JCR is actually pretty good, or you feel strongly that lab demonstrators don’t get the credit they deserve, there’s always space for an opinion. Whether you think that the Union could be doing something better, or you’re pretty confident that the Student Loans Company has made it their personal mission to make you miserable, we want to know. I personally, am outraged that all the paper towel dispensers in Blackett and Huxley have been replaced with hand dryers over the summer, and will quite happily wax lyrical about this for quite some time. I think big, you see. Students care what other students think, and so why not share your perspectives?

At Imperial, we’re so accustomed to such diversity that it’s easy to forget that everybody offers something unique. Although you might not run into the huge spectrum of people here everyday, the variety means that there are a lot of interesting things to be saidand Comment can be the place to say them. Whether you had a mind-altering experience in Thailand on your gap yah, you’ve just moved to the UK from deepest darkest Peru, or you spent the summer sleeping until noon and watching Jeremy Kyle in your pyjamas; everyone sees things differently, and everyone has something interesting to say. Encountering other views, however controversial, helps to shape yours, whether they alter your opinion, or clarify existing ideas in your mind.

Some topics come up in Comment year after year: sexism, TfL, and the workload at Imperial, to name but a few. As long as these issues persevere, it’s important to continue to feature and discuss them, to stir up debate, rather than become complacent and let important topics fade into obscurity. If you think something should change, Comment is your opportunity to tell people why you feel strongly about it, and maybe convince them to feel strongly too. As Freshers, we sit through dozens of introductory talks that tell us that we’re the pick of the educated litter. (Freshers, a game for you: send me an email at Comment at comment.felix@imperial.ac.uk and tell me how many times in your first week you were told you were the best. The smuggest department gets nothing at all, but I will tell you which it is!) If such intelligent people won’t stand up and put forward their opinions, who will? We as Imperial students love to complain, but are generally reluctant to take action. Anyone who’s ever been slightly dissatisfied with their course, yet whined when the SOLE survey came around is guilty of it (and that’s pretty much everyone). So why not break the mould, and do something about these frustrations for a change?