Activist Spirit Dead or Alive

Posted on August 29, 2008
Filed Under News, The Daily Prereq | By Lucas Kavner

Mother Jones has just published their statistical take on the state of college activism. There’s also some pictures of some random people standing on steps. Perhaps to remind us that, yes, cliches still exist! And they’re fun to draw.

Some interesting bits from the article: Human rights and the environment are the most important issues for students and non-students alike, with the Iraq War placing a distant fourth. Also, about 84-86% of students and non-students believe that college campuses are less engaged than they were in the 1960s. A commenter from the Mother Jones board weighs in on this:

The problem is that we have come to associate the violent protests of the 1960s as the only definition of student activism, and if the national media doesn’t pick up the stories than nothing is happening. One need only read individual campus newspapers to see that there are issues that activate students, and that these issues are ongoing.


Agreed. Just look at the hundreds of climate change initiatives begun by students around the country (most prominently 350.org and Brighter Planet) for proof that change and action are still alive and kicking. If we were to act exactly like the activists of the 1960s, the Republicans would just accuse students, and in turn the Democrats, of being unpatriotic, crazy, liberal nuts. And, at this point, isn’t it more important to win people over than to turn them away? Civil disobedience is one thing, but real, physical change is just a few steps away. College students know this and are slowly finding new ways of getting things done.

About half of the students surveyed believe the future of activism is digital…and, as we all know, the hippies didn’t have the internet. They had smoke bombs…. so if we only could figure out a way to lace our internets with smoke bombs…?

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