Protests need clarity, credibility to be effective
(Last updated: 02/08/10 7:34pm)Does democracy really look like a few dozen students holding signs asking for change? To a group of MSU students, it does.
More than 50 MSU students rallied outside the Administration Building last Wednesday, followed by a march toward the Capitol in Lansing to protest cuts in education funding.
The students gathered from various on-campus groups, including Undergraduate Alliance, Alleft MSU and Real Chicano and Latino Studies, and attempted to highlight numerous concerns, such as tuition increase and cuts in teaching assistant and undergraduate programs.
The problem is not the fact that students protested — it’s the sheer number of issues they protested at one time.
Protesting can be good in moderation. And it’s not as if the students were trying to turn MSU into the historically activist University of California at Berkley, but with the amount of problems they wanted to fight, their concerns will not be fixed with just one protest. Protests only are going to be effective if the group has one central focus. MSU and Michigan officials would not be able to make everyone’s worries disappear.
Although administrators and lawmakers are unlikely to focus on so many different problems, there is no sign that MSU is being negligent toward the protesters. MSU has a difficult obligation in attempting to run a university that pleases everyone. Saving top programs should be a priority, but in the current financial climate, some programs will have to be cut, leaving some upset.
Saving every program and providing everybody with jobs would be ideal, but attempting to do so with an unorganized gathering is a juvenile and simplistic view of the situation. Cutting different areas is something MSU can’t avoid.
If students want responses to their concerns, yelling for change at the steps of the Administration Building isn’t going to accomplish anything. Instead, concerned students should go to the avenues and means that are available — such as the Council of Graduate Students, ASMSU and Residence Halls Association — to listen and ask questions to learn about the issues important to them. It is important to know why and how programs were cut before running to the people who had the tough task of making the cuts and complaining.
MSU administrators appear as if they are being as transparent as possible with the financial status of the university and nothing points to them being unsympathetic and overlooking concerns, so students shouldn’t be afraid to let themselves be heard.
It is the students’ right to protest, but in order for such protests to be successful, they need to have an organized stance. Different concerns shouldn’t be downplayed, but they can’t be promoted all at once in a cacophony of hoots and hollers. In the future, protesters should consider better organization and coming up with different ways to achieve their goals. It might be wise to direct frustration toward the state Legislature, as it makes much of the education funding decisions, while the university reacts to them.
Protesting has long been an effective way to initiate change. But to do so, students should remember to remain respectful and clear in their goals — all without losing their convictions.
Originally Published: 02/08/10 7:22pm
kev
02/08/10 8:15pmbut obama is president now, things don’t have to make sense to change!
in all seriousness, this editorial makes zero mention of the so called myriad of requests the protest was making which were, apparently, unfounded and in too great of number… What did they mention specifically? I can’t argue for or against this editorial because of it’s lack of useable info….
student activist
02/08/10 11:23pmThe editorial also seems to equate what they consider a low turnout with a lack of organization. Consider this a fight against apathy on campus, willingness by organizations like the State News to accept at face value the fact that the administration ‘appears’ to be transparent and that things seem equitable just because the higher-ups have said so. They also fail to mention the many other avenues these student groups have taken – not least of which was the ensuing march from the admin building to the Capitol.
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Perry Miller
02/09/10 5:23amYou bet they sure do matter! And the fifty or more students who raised their voices in dissent, did the crucial work of representing as students, the voice of a future community leadership, right alongside the other voices at the State Capitol.
Let’s remember that active and participatory democracy requires NOISE, the lifting of voices in speech, chants, songs, and shouts even.
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Jim Jones
02/09/10 7:51amAll you “protestors” here and at the march….you guys make me laugh. It must be nice to have so much free time(and probably mommy and daddy’s money) to take up your little cause and have your little protest. College isn’t free nor is it a right. It’s like everything else in life, you have to work hard to get something valuable. Of course, most of you don’t work so you don’t have to worry about it. In ten years when you all grow up you’ll be just like everyone else, working jobs and raising a family so get over yourselves. You don’t have to take up pet causes and play “activist” to make a difference in this world. Try getting jobs and working hard.
A "Protester" and "Activist"
02/09/10 1:05pmDear Jim Jones –
We actually don’t have free time… we make time. And as far as mommy and daddy’s money goes, for starters, it doesn’t cost anything to march and let your voice be heard. Second, I work three jobs to pay my way thank you very much.
So perhaps you should stop pretending you know anything about people you spent less time reading about than ripping apart for, to be quite frank, ridiculous, childish accusations that you spent less time thinking about than you spent molding yourself into a good little middle-class worker bee like all your fantasy football chronies at the watercooler.
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MC Hammer
02/09/10 1:29pmPlease, Obama, don’t hurt ‘em.
Lucy Parsons
02/09/10 1:43pmThis is a poorly written article. I am really confused as to what it is arguing. For example, it states: “[groups] attempted to highlight numerous concerns, such as tuition increase and cuts in teaching assistant and undergraduate programs.” If the protest was so unclear, how were you able to extract these messages? Further, you claim that the protest lacked a central focus. With all due respect, if you could not tell the protest was concerned with the state of education in Michigan, then that says more about you than it does the protest.
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MSU Student
02/09/10 2:31pmThe State News is meant to be the voice of the students – those same students that are losing the chance to have the education they were promised when they came to MSU due to the closing of programs.
It is little wonder the State News is seen as a joke around campus and that State News writers are universally laughed at by instructors at MSU due to their shoddy writing style in class.
Your job is to support the students not the administration. What did LAS and her cronies offer you to write this piece of crap?
concerned
02/09/10 3:01pmDear middle-class white boys of the State News editorial team,
Next time you find it necessary to comment on the the ridiculousness of protests by minorities maybe you should try and understand that we are not all as privileged as you uneducated assholes. Idiots!
Economist Alum
02/09/10 3:12pmI think what they’re trying to say is that rather than just yelling and wanting to preserve your little program how about you learn a little bit about the facts of the situation and the budget and some real numbers and act professionally instead of throwing allegations around, calling the state news “middle-class white boys” and other stunts which expose the disorganized and immature nature of your rant, i mean protest.
If you want to be taken seriously, than get some business students together and show how you can make the budget work to get what you want accomplished under the realities of Michigans economy.
If you do that, i’m on board. I truly wish you luck.
durk
02/09/10 4:36pm“at the watercooler”
Classic!
Jake Abbot
02/09/10 4:54pmTO A “Protester” and “Activist”
I’ll bet you $1000 that in ten years when you finally grow up and get out in the real world (where you have to bust your butt at work to support yourself and your family)you’ll look back and see what a childish poser you are today. You “protest” because you think it’s hip.
...And face it, your parents didn’t mind being the little middle class corporate worker bees that you mock in order to provide you with the upbringing that allowed you to go to State.
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LoL
02/09/10 8:54pmState News writers = Dumbing down the 21st century one kid at a time
Biggest joke on campus
concerned
02/09/10 10:16pmJake Abbot – i live in the real world. I work at a university on a wage that is technically below the poverty line – the university is cutting my program – which mean providing for my family will no longer be possible.
Maybe when you remove yourself from your cozy existence you will understand that we are not all as lucky as you.
If it is ‘hip’ to protest against the cutting of high-performing programs while over-paid executives receive pay-rises then sure – call me hip.
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Jake Abbott
02/10/10 12:00amConcerned…you’re the person who decided to pursue a career that pays little. You’re the person who decided to start a family(and the HUGE financial burden that comes with it)knowing your job pays squat. If you want to earn more money, change your job. Don’t complain that you’re underpaid and that society should subsidize your career decision.
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Concerned
02/10/10 3:15amJake – the very idea that to succeed in American society all you need to do is work hard disappeared with Horatio Alger. That was a cultural studies reference there – forgive me – I am not as well versed in Stephen Covey!
I work hard, my colleagues work hard – just because you disagree with teaching and research as a career path is no reason to cast aspersions on other people’s work ethic.
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Economist Alum
02/10/10 9:22amConcerned: I’m very sorry to hear of your misfortune.
When i suggested getting business students that was not in any way to imply only those majors count – which would be stupid.
Rather, it was because 99.999% of protesters at MSU are a load of idiots who dont know one solitary fact about the budget or the real (as opposed to desired) political and economic situation facing MSU and the State.
If they’d move their protest to be centered around those realities and offer up useful solutions that address these core and structural problems while preserving their goals, that would make their protest actually worthwhile.
Unfortunately for the “Real” Chicano and Latino Studies, those students have already clearly demonstraited their immaturity in screaming at the Provost et al and probably have helped ensure their program will be (sooner or later) on the chopping block.
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The Bear
02/11/10 10:23amWere these the same protesters that showed up on the Capitol last week?
//tinyurl.com/y9pjexl
Ummm
02/11/10 11:12amAs much as I hate seeing programs being cut (I wish we could teach more fields instead of taking the axe to programs) in times like this it’s all a numbers game. When your school is strapped for cash, there is no such thing as intrinsic value.
Do all programs have value of some type? Sure. Are they highly ranked and composed of some of the best in the field? Sure. But everything is a numbers game right now, and if your program isn’t pulling in corporate donations/alumni donations or making any money for the university, they’re going to look at it with the green tinted glasses.
Oh, and Concerned:
...White doesn’t mean privileged.
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