Regarding “40 freshmen unable to board class boat cruise due to delayed bus arrival” (Sunday, April 28, 2013)
“Class Council will provide a full refund” read the expected email I received the next afternoon, along with the 39 other forgotten freshmen, whose days of preparation, weeks of anticipation and hours of travel culminated in a spectacular view, from the pier, on a clear, New Jersey night, of our class cruise setting sail for the New York harbor.
Class Council will provide a full refund, they’ve assured us. But, in truth, there were several unforeseen, perhaps unforeseeable, circumstances that exacerbated an already poorly organized situation, and without any of which, there likely would not have been anyone left behind — let alone us all.
I would like a refund for the confidence placed in you all, and for the deception that followed. For the nonexistent contact “throughout the night” with student bus captain James Weldon ’16, who did demonstrate admirable leadership, even as he was blamed and harassed for a situation completely out of his control. For the illusion that there was actually an organized apparatus for managing the situation, that it was our arrival after the “strict deadline” that caused our inability to board. We merrily, casually, strolled down the pier in search of our cruise, arriving well over seven minutes before the boat began to depart. Why, given this “constant communication” between our bus captain and certain members of the 2016 Class Council, were we not informed of this imminent deadline, or at least just told to hurry up? Or else, why would the Council not have a contingency plan already in place, given pre-existing awareness of the 12:45 deadline, and the likelihood of us not making it?
Because there was no such communication. Bus Captain James called after we saw the cruise leaving us, literally yelling “We’re not on the boat,” to which the councilmember responded with utter surprise and confusion. And yet, the impression given by the Council has suggested that they were actually on top of the situation as it transpired, pleading for the cruise crew to await our arrival.
Guidance and direction in times of need is expected from those elected to lead. Instead, excuses and misdirection is what awaited us in the days since this misfortune. I find your actions disingenuous and ill-fitting of the positions Princetonians of the Great Class of 2016 have entrusted you with. Likeability is no substitute for leadership. For the Forty Forgotten, what needs to be refunded, is our trust.
That said, I’ll still take my $25.
AJ Sibley ’16
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