You know what is pretty sad? I am probably going to spend somewhere over an hour writing this piece and there are probably about 20 people outside The Northeastern News who will read this.

The only thing anyone ever seems to care about in The Northeastern News is the crime log just so they can find out which one of their friends got written up for throwing up on a cop over the weekend.

As I am writing this column, there are probably five or more events going on around campus, and there probably aren’t many people at those events. Last week, I was at a debate between the NU College Democrats and Republicans (OK, I participated) and we had at best 75 people there.

In the past, we had well over 100 people at the same type of debate, but all of a sudden people stopped caring. At another event sponsored by NU Students for Israel, I counted maybe 10 people for a speaker who, by some measure, had come here all the way from Israel to speak.

The apathy toward the hard work of our fellow students appears at sporting events, as well. When our own Huskies played George Mason, a team now in the final four, there were 1,206 people in the stands.

Now, I am sure you are thinking, “Why read the Northeastern News or go to any of these events? They suck anyway.” I understand what you are thinking. Not every event that some students work to put together is going to be great. That is the story of life – nothing is always great. However, many of the events that occur around campus are pretty darn good and they would be a lot better if you were there.

You see, if I am planning an event and I assume that only five people will show up, then I do not do as well a job if I know 50 people are going to show up.

At the same time, it can be very hard to draw people in here, especially if you can’t say you will be able to fill a room and have a lively discussion afterwards.

The same goes for The Northeastern News. If the writers and the editors working at this paper assume very few people are reading this or know this is going to become someone’s trash, that will take a little bit of the drive away.

I feel that, in a student newspaper, the most important page is the editorial and opinion page, because it holds the pulse of this campus and this is where the discussion occurs.

Without people writing and talking about what they are passionate about, that page is left empty without the passion we deserve and without the vital discussion those pieces should create.

The bottom line is that college is a time for learning, but learning is not just a one-dimensional thing. Discussion and debate, especially in a college setting, are great ways to learn.

Events that occur outside the classroom are at the center of this exchange of ideas. If you show up at the many different events around campus instead of just walking by posters and deleting the e-mails you get for them, these events can only get better.

If you attend these events and participate, you never know who you will meet and what you will accomplish that may just affect you down the road.

There is a heck of a lot for people to do around here, so just get involved.

– Josh Robin is a freshman political science major.