Grooming Your Public Parts

As a proud staff member of the Voice newspaper, I am privileged to have an office in the Rudolph Jones Student Center, a great, central location that allows me to eat at the Bronco Grill, socialize in the game room, or attend a variety of events that often take place a couple steps away in the Olivia Chavis Multipurpose Room. This strategic location also allows me to listen in on groups of students who hold private conversations very publicly while walking past the door. many of these conversations are X-rated. I've heard an interesting assortment of profane terms in discussions ranging from intimacy with the opposite sex to how some students feel about the office of financial aid. People may feel however they please, but they should be careful who they express these emotions around. For example, the advisor for the Voice Newspaper, a popular former WRAL News Anchor, accompanies me in the cozy office on Tuesdays and Thursdays. She is well-known in the triangle area, where many communication majors attempt to begin their careers after graduating from college. If she witnessed a communications major making loud, vulgar statements, then had to interview that same individual two weeks later for an entry level job in the Communications department at Fayetteville State, that applicant might as well throw their application in the trash.because she already knows that he or she has no regard for his or her public professional image.

Some would argue that the first amendment of the United States Constitution guarantees the right of free speech to those who inhabit America. As a college journalist, I am the first to agree and appreciate that right, but I am also the first to say with caution, there is a small invisible disclaimer under that right that guarantees people will judge you based upon your public persona, whether they know you or not. Depending on who is judging you, being careless with the way you display yourself in public could cost more than you bargained for.

This doesn't mean you should suit up and get a pedicure for a Saturday outing with the boys, nor does it constitute whispers, perfect posture and sheer nylons for a movie date with the ladies. It only means that as students we are aspiring to be future professionals. We must remain conscious and always conduct ourselves in the appropriate manner. The student center does not call for office behavior, but it is not your personal dorm room either. People should completely refrain from using profanity in a public setting. Your immediate circle of friends may not mind the language, but others may. We also can not forget children, who are perhaps the most absorbent of us all.