Campus activism far from a dead issue

FILE PHOTO LUCha members crashed a reception between President Lee Bollinger and student leaders last spring, in an attempt to gain the attention of the president and assert the importance of Latino/a rights on campus.

If you look beyond the United States, dramatic images of student activism remain in full flight.

From the Tianamen Square massacre in 1989 to the streets of Seoul and Sarejevo earlier this year, massive showings of student power have graced American television screens. But here, at home, where the streets lack similar activity, students are compared to the previous generation, and found lacking.

And the question, "Is student activism dead?" is tossed around like a hand grenade.

In a way, it's almost unfair -- the previous generation had a civil rights movement in full swing, a proven corrupt president, and a wildly unpopular war to protest. This generation, on the other hand, is left with the spoils of their triumphs, however small, and the relative comfort brought about by their efforts. According to those who believe student activism has breathed its last in the United States that is the very problem with student activism these days -- the overriding concerns present in earlier days have largely vanished, leaving today's student few obvious issues to complain about.

By way of comparison, "Have Cause, Will Protest" might well have been a motto for the 1960s. The issues were very public, protests were very easy to join and very attractive to students. Furthermore, the causes attracted sustained interest. Protests over the war lasted from its earliest days to its bitter end. Minorities and their supporters struggled throughout the 1960s and into the next decade to receive the rights accorded them under the Civil Rights Bill of 1964. Perhaps above all else, the activists of the 1960s and early 1970s worked on truly national issues -- civil rights demonstrators in Washington or in Los Angeles marched to change conditions for minorities across the United States. Protestors against the Vietnam War worked to end a conflict affecting both major cities and isolated villages.

As the 1960s ended, and the Vietnam War slowly wound down, the face of activism -- especially college students' involvement in such activities -- changed. In 1970, the first Black Action Movement occurred on the University (of Michigan) campus. Beginning on March 20th, activists proclaimed a general strike against the University. Over the next ten days, class attendance dropped severely, as black activists lobbied on behalf of minorities. For compelling the University to set a goal of a 10 percent minority population, BAM I is considered among the high points of student activism in University history.

The action's goals and effects, as compared to another campus activism highlight -- the Vietnam War teach-ins conducted during the mid-to late-1960s -- serve as an early sign of the direction student activism was to take. Protests against Vietnam concerned an issue affecting the whole country. By way of comparison, the direct effects of BAM I served only to improve and expand the role of minorities on the Ann Arbor campus. While the action may have helped students at other universities, the goals set by those activists were local, rather than national in scope.

Over the subsequent 27 years, student activism has largely followed the example set by BAM I and the tenet, "think globally, act locally." In the 1990s, student activism rarely puts forth a concerted effort against national issues. Even when activists agree on a position, the ensuing protests are directed at one small portion of the nation.

This scenario presented itself with California's controversial Proposition 209, a ballot issue asking the state's residents' permission to end affirmative action programs. The proposition attracted widespread attention and numerous protests, often organized by student activists. For all the national interest in affirmative action, Proposition 209 affected only California. Ultimately, the "global" protest against the local issue proved unsuccessful - it passed overwhelmingly in spite of much student opposition.

Nevertheless, that protest represented a step above the more common form of student activism currently in vogue: the local protest for local results. Unfortunately, even the most successful local activist actions often escape notice by the nation at large. In 1992, students at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst protested against the atmosphere for minority students on campus, and were rewarded with a set of promises, including an increase in minority representation among both faculty and the student population. Last March, feeling the administration broke their promises, Asian, Latin, African and Native American student at UMass staged a successful - and peaceful - six-day takeover of their campus' main administration building. During the course of the protest, students came from around Massachusetts and New England to support ALANA's cause, but general awareness of the action was limited, at best.

On the other hand, when activism draws attention, it is usually for the wrong reasons. Over the past few years, campus publications have increasingly become targets for theft by students in disagreement with certain content. The Michigan Daily was victimized in this fashion early last year. The impressions left by these incidents is one of selfishness - tainting legitimate activist actions which continue unnoticed.

The mistake made by most observers is assuming a lack of overt action equates to a general lack of activism, or worse, to apathy. While students no longer continuously protest, they remain active, and they do care about their futures and their communities. Student activism has not died, but rather evolved. In the absence of a great moral beacon - like the role occupied by the Vietnam War 25-30 years ago - activism's focus has shifted towards the local, rather than the national. To say activism is dead ignores the many students passionately involved in causes that don't involve marching out in the streets, and belittles those who do.

While it isn't the same creature that erupted during the 1960s, activism remains a potent force on university campuses.

09-03-97