If you are a student at PCC and you’ve set foot in the Quad or anywhere on campus where large groups of students congregate chances are you have heard this question more times than you’d care to answer it. And all you’re trying to do is make your way to the C-Building to your philosophy class.
The requests are always different. “Subscribe to this”, “join that”, or “sign this.” And for most students walking by these people, the answer is almost always the same: “no.”
Who are these people to come to my school and bother me with their gym memberships and petitions to help save the whales, right? Wrong, PCC is a public campus, which means that access isn’t limited to students; it’s open to the public as well. And as for the vendors on campus, they must get approval from the school, according to the school’s website. A vendor interested in doing business with PCC has to send a letter of introduction and information about the company.
People have a right to come here and say whatever they want, whether it sounds like music to your ears or garbage being flung at you. And they also have a right, with the permission of the school, to sell you snake oil, newspaper subscriptions, or whatever it is they’re peddling.
People must remember that it is just another part of the college experience. While it may not be part of a pleasurable college experience for some, others might disagree. Just because you don’t want a membership to L.A. Fitness does not mean the student walking behind doesn’t also want one.
So while you may think theses peddlers and venders may be a nuisance, others might see them as a convenience. For some students it was in the Quad where they registered to vote, the reason they became vegetarians or why they finally got in shape. You never know, a few moments of your time might just change your life.
- Columbus deserves his day - October 17, 2014
- Struggles continue for women’s water polo - October 16, 2014
- Root Root for the away team? - October 8, 2014
