Fill out your census form.
That’s what advertisements on television and on the El tell you to do. Supposedly your future and that of your children depend on it. Scary, huh?
Not really.
These ads make the U.S. Census 2000 sound as complicated as tax returns and financial aid applications. But don’t worry — you do not need to know your parent’s income, your savings account balance or even your own social security number. All you need to know is your name, age and birth date, sex, where you “spend most of your time” and your ethnic group.
If you think any of this information is too revealing, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of the Census has you covered. An informational flier ensures that “only sworn Census Bureau employees —and no one else — will have access to the information you provide.”
The census bureau estimates it will take five minutes for the average citizen to complete a form. I finished mine in two and still had time to get a cup of mint chocolate chip ice cream at Cone Zone before running across campus to a meeting.
One out of every six students will be randomly chosen to fill out a longer form. One of my friends completed the long form in 10 minutes and said the questions still were pretty basic.
You may wonder why such a short questionnaire is worth so much.
First of all, it is important because Evanston receives about $360 total for each resident who returns a form. And because you spend almost 75 percent of your year here, you’re considered a resident. Your parents should not include you in their household information when they complete their form.
In two or 10 minutes, you can raise $360 for Evanston. The number of residents who respond to the census helps determine how much funding Evanston schools, parks, and police and fire departments receive for the next 10 years. Consider it one way you can thank the city financially for its services, even if Northwestern administrators refuse to.
Census bureau employees will hand out the forms through Thursday at Norris University Center to students drawing housing lottery numbers. Take a form, fill it out, stuff it in an envelope and give it back to the employees.
If you live in a sorority, you can pick up a form at your house on April 10. If you live in a fraternity, pick one up on April 11. If you live off campus, you will receive a census form in the mail.
If you still aren’t convinced it’s worth your time to fill out your census form, don’t expect the census bureau to let you get away easily. Employees will probably call and ask you to fill out a form on April 16, when they return to campus one last time.
The U.S. government and city of Evanston have invested a lot of time and effort to convince you to participate in Census 2000. Too bad they haven’t emphasized that you only need about five minutes and a fifth-grade IQ to do it.
If only the housing lottery were this easy.
