“I don’t give a [expletive] about this, at all. I’m an engineering student. I’m just going to be building bridges.” This is the quote I overheard during a lecture given by Jane Ramsey last Thursday in the Sun Room of the Memorial Union.

In order to evoke this outspoken apathy, one would assume the lecture was specific to an area of study. Was it about business ethics? No. Was it about graphic design? No. Was it about marketing strategies? No. Ms. Ramsey’s lecture was entitled “Myths and Realities of Homelessness & Poverty: A Plan for Transforming Cities.”

The topic of homelessness and poverty is not a content-specific issue. It does not concern only those in the fields of social work or city planning. This is an epidemic that is plaguing our country and has for some time. It greatly saddens me that someone would have such a lack of concern for the topic of homelessness and poverty and even worse that they would vocalize it in such a repugnant display. While I can understand how an individual may have gotten slightly disinterested during the lecture due to the verbose nature of the speech filled with acronyms of organizations and statistics, the issue behind the speech is nothing to be taken lightly.

During the Q-and-A portion of the lecture, an individual asked how Ms. Ramsey had gotten into activism and she replied that it was in her nature due to her upbringing and being a product of the 1960s. She later went on to say that those of us in the crowd are the ones who will be imparting change in the future. I am glad Ms. Ramsey did not have to hear the quote that I did because it was clearly the antithesis of the point she was trying to get across. It upsets me that someone from my generation cannot share the same altruistic mentality that Ms. Ramsey has; even worse that a person can be so brazenly outspoken about their disinterest in such a significant matter.

I am asking my peers to please have empathy and concern for others and stand up for what you believe is right. I did not do the latter and I am disgusted in myself for not saying anything to the individual who uttered the aforementioned quote. While you may attend a lecture on campus purely to receive extra credit in a class, be respectful of the speaker and knowledgeable of the topic at hand. Never let the abhorrent mentality of “it’s not my problem, so why should I care” rein free because homelessness and poverty affect us all … even engineers.