Spam Granule on "Student Activism"

our campuses

Submitted by Anonymous on November 12, 2008 - 10:30pm

what a great favor his writers have done us....

The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Chronicle Review
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i08/08a03501.htm
From the issue dated October 17, 2008

Is Campus Activism Dead — or Just Misguided?
A President Wonders Where the Campus Radicals Are Now

By GRAHAM SPANIER

With the average age of college presidents a hair above 60 years old, a large portion of today's campus leaders were undergraduate or graduate students during the heightened years of protest in the 1960s and early 1970s. As a student during those protest-laden times, I spoke out about peace, the Vietnam War, civil rights, and the status of women. But today, as a university president, I am generally disheartened at the nature of activism on campus.

Did something happen to me when I hit 30? Did I change when I went over to the Dark Side of university administration? Or do I have good reason to be disappointed with the state of activism today?

Don't get me wrong. The last thing I need as a university president is to contend with more protests. Yet I've always felt there was something healthy about activism that is well informed, constructive, and aimed in the right direction.

I like to think I know a little bit about college students, but I'm often reminded of Mark Twain's words: "When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."

As one who vividly recalls antiwar marches, the Kent State shootings, protests against apartheid, and the demand for civil rights, I marvel on the one hand at the silence of today's young people on major issues and on the other hand at the inadequate understanding of the issues that some students choose for protest.

For example, few of today's college students have protested the Iraq war. One wonders if many of them are paying much attention. I suppose this shouldn't be a surprise. After all, according to a Newsweek study last year, more Americans were able to name Jordin Sparks as the winner of the American Idol competition than could identify John Roberts as the U.S. chief justice.

There have been some rumblings of student attention to one of the major issues of our time, global warming, but one might expect as much, since energy and the environment are key topics during the current presidential election, and many media outlets are interviewing every Jason, Ashley, and Jennifer to discuss the topic.

My recollection of the 1960s and 1970s is that fewer students protested than most of us have nostalgically conjured, and that some of those who participated in protests were not well informed about the nuances of the causes at hand, even while displaying passionate feelings about them. But the most-active students, the leaders, were generally rather well versed about the issues. I don't see that level of engagement today.

Students have occupied administration buildings at Penn State and elsewhere, willing to be arrested if their presidents didn't adopt the Designated Suppliers Program, an evolving concept developed by the Worker Rights Consortium. The students insist that the program is up and running, but in reality it does not yet exist. Didn't they check? Most students look at me blankly when I try to engage them in a discussion about antitrust concerns or other topics relevant to the compelling but complex juncture of manufacturing, international trade, unionization, and exploitation.

It would be tempting to blame this state of affairs on whatever letter of the alphabet we are now using to describe the current generation of 18to 22-year-olds. Or we could blame the Internet. After all, the Facebook group "No, I don't care if I die at 12 a.m., I refuse to pass on your chain letter" at last count had 715,982 members, almost three times the number of students in the "Amnesty International: Support & Defend Human Rights Worldwide" group. Even the "Lazy College Students of America" group attracted more members than "USAS (United Students Against Sweatshops)." Who knew that lazy college students needed a support group? Granted, much of the activity on Facebook is for fun, but it's noteworthy that most all college students use Facebook, some as much as several hours a day. Thankfully, in addition to connecting with others on "issues" like taking naps and flipping the pillow over to get to the cold side (that group has 643,795 members), students log on to support many worthy causes.

One characteristic of student activism circa 2008 is that there are myriad causes that capture the attention of just a handful of students. Small groups at some colleges, for example, feel that they should be permitted to carry guns on the campus. Their national organization, Students for Concealed Carry on Campus, has orchestrated a number of letter-writing campaigns and protests that involve wearing an empty holster to classes. At Penn State, those protests have gone virtually unnoticed by other students, or, if anything, earned nothing but derision. For those who were marching for freedom 40 years ago, it is undoubtedly difficult to muster a lot of emotion for causes like the empty-holster campaign.

What should we make of this new generation of activism?

Obviously the political landscape has changed, technology has changed, and students themselves have changed. Today's students have no worries about being drafted, and they need not think about the privilege of voting — an issue that was resolved for 18-year-olds in 1971, when the 26th Amendment was certified. Today students feel more empowered than ever. They have other priorities as well.

In a sampling of those born between 1976 and 2000, the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press found that 81 percent of respondents cited getting rich as their highest priority in life, and 51 percent named fame as a top goal. Only 30 percent expressed a desire to help people in need, while 22 percent said they aspired to be community leaders. Compare that with the results of a survey of college freshmen in 1967: Nearly 86 percent said "a meaningful philosophy of life" was their principal goal, and just 41 percent cited being "well off financially" as their purpose in life.

One result of this shift has been that more of today's students are pursuing degrees in professions that appear lucrative or glamorous: business, finance, public relations, and broadcasting, for example. There has been a slow but steady decline in liberal-arts majors.

At the same time, there is something very good happening: an upswing in volunteerism. A survey done by the Higher Education Research Institute found that about 83 percent of college freshmen had volunteered in their senior year of high school, up from 66 percent in 1989. Their experiences have carried forward to college and have resulted in a proliferation of campus groups with the goal of serving others.

At Penn State, students have built houses for Habitat for Humanity, Hurricane Katrina victims, and American Indian reservations. They are recycling, working to develop renewable resources, tutoring disadvantaged children, planting urban gardens, and providing medical aid to impoverished people in third-world countries.

The trend continues after graduation: Applications are up 28 percent at Teach for America. The Peace Corps has seen a 16-percent increase in applications. Other service organizations count similar increases. Although some may write off today's postgraduate volunteerism as a reflection of a weak job market, I am among those who see it as a continuation of the habit of community service that students developed as teenagers.

Without a doubt, there has been a change in the expression of student activism. Some might express disdain for what they perceive as "boutique activism" — that is, the kind that involves small numbers of students who often lack extensive knowledge of the background of their cause.

At the same time, Lazy College Students of America aside, today's students seem more likely to try to change the world through their volunteer efforts. Most of those who are serious about a cause rarely take to the streets or chant at the doors of the administration building. While we see fewer marches and angry fists pumping the air, many students are still making a difference, and that is something worth shouting about.

Graham Spanier is president of Pennsylvania State University.

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