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TechnoratiThe Kids are Alright (Part 2)
Who says students are apathetic and narcissistic?
At Stanford University, twelve student members of the Stanford Labor Action Coalition have been staging a hunger strike for the last five days to protest the lack of a living wage for the school's contract employees. About a dozen people have been on a hunger strike, first camping out in White Plaza and then outside of Hennessy's office. The student group is "challenging Stanford to be the model employer that (it is) claiming to be," group spokesperson Shamala Gallagher told the Stanford Daily.
The Student/Farmworker Alliance celebrated a major victory last week when McDonald's announced a landmark agreement to work together with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to improve the wages and working conditions of Florida farmworkers. After two years of escalating pressure by the Alliance, McDonald's has agreed to pay one penny more per pound to workers harvesting tomatoes for McDonald's; to a stronger code of conduct based on the principle of worker participation, and to a collaborative effort to develop a third-party mechanism for monitoring conditions in the fields and investigating workers' complaints of abuse.
At Rutgers University, on April 23th, the Fifth Annual Tent State University will kick off with a ribbon cutting ceremony and a panel discussion on the new economics of higher education. TSU is an international student movement that originated at Rutgers in 2003 as a response to budget cuts. For the past two years, the overarching message of TSU, has been, "Education not War." This year, the Rutgers TSU is calling for the implementation of a voting position on the Board of Governors representing students, the creation of a dedicated tax on legal and accounting fees that would help fund higher education, the full-funding of higher education, and the passage of the Dream Act nationally, which would allow for young undocumented immigrants that were raised and educated in the United States to qualify for the same in-state tuition that is available to their peers.
At the University of Iowa, IowaPIRG students hosted a global warming panel with State Senator Joe Bolckom last week. Over 70 students attended the event and engaged Senator Bolckom on his plans to fight global warming in the state.
This is a miniscule sampling of the great political work many students are doing today.
Peter Rothberg is writes the ActNow column for the The Nation. ActNow aims to put readers in touch with creative ways to register informed dissent. Whether it's a grassroots political campaign, a progressive film festival, an antiwar candidate, a street march, a Congressional bill needing popular support or a global petition, ActNow will highlight the outpouring of cultural, political and anti-corporate activism sweeping the planet. Watch this space for more examples in the coming days.
© 2007 The Nation
4 Comments so far
Show AllJeez, everyone here is so darned cynical. It won't hurt to cheer up.
The only reason conservative children are against this war is because they'll have to fight it. I'm w/you Shane, I went to a war protest in ATL and we had to have a permit first, then we were escorted by police for "our own safety" through a designated area. The organizers kept telling me to stay in the group and not to walk outside of our assigned lanes ... I just asked what kind of protest is it when you have to permission from the authorities for every action taken? Gallaudet was a real protest. Many of these college kids would be wise to learn from the past when protesting meant NOT doing what you are told by authorities. A Peace march is nothing unless it shuts down the entire city it is held in. No one really cares if you don't make them feel it.
Shane said of students today, "iPod in 1 ear, cell-phone in the other, both acting as a buffer and wall to the outside world." and I agree. They all want to make big money and when they show up and have to work for it, they act shocked. The results of this mentality were visible at Virginia Tech last week. My condolences go out to all the families of the victims, however I wonder how many people who got shot had an iPod in one ear and a cell phone in the other? This kid shot well over 100 rounds from 2 pistols. He had to reload several times with each pistol. If kids were aware of their surroundings I think someone would have been able to stop the attack but instead they all followed what they have been taught it seems, to get under a desk and hide. Sadly that meant waiting to die in this case. Kids had better wake up because it is their world we are flushing down the drain. If they don't care don't expect others to do so.
My impression of today's college students is that they're... moderate. Socially liberal but suspicious of government in all its manifestations. The situation could easily be worse.
Where I go to school, even the conservatives are against the war (not all of them, but a surprising number).
Mmmmm, call me cynical, but the actions of a few students do not make onto the first 10 pages of a newspaper, unlike the coordinated actions of thousands of students. Recall the mass walkout of Gallaudet Univ in DC, now that was more like what we used to do in the late 60s and 70s. That got attention.
I visit 10s of campus' every year, and rather than seeing groups of students participating in active debates in the streets, I see iPod in 1 ear, cell-phone in the other, both acting as a buffer and wall to the outside world.