Look out UC Berkeley — UC Irvine is riding your tail. We may be smaller than you but we can protest like pros. We can throw shopping carts off of the University Town Center Bridge! We can march down University Drive and block traffic in all directions! We can run into classes and inspire revolutions!
The New University does not want to slow your momentum. If anything, we are incredibly proud to be a part of a school that has finally lost its reputation as being apathetic, sterile and quiet while the other UCs get to make all of the noise.
Sure, part of this is because you are finally being affected personally by the fee increases, the furloughs and the possibility of not having a guaranteed job when this whole college shindig is over.
While other American students are still in the whole “apathy is cool” mindset, you have taken responsibility for your fellow-students. You have recognized a problem with the system and are now fighting to fix it. You are demanding that California prioritize education; that we spend our money wiser; that when we pay $15,000 per year, we get our money’s worth; that our peers will be able to afford school even when their parents have lost their jobs.
Really and truly, we are so happy that you care, UCI.
But.
As students who cover these protests, talk to administrators, Regents and faculty, we do have some concerns for you that we would like to pass along.
It seems that we have lost our focus. Just look at the list of demands on the “Democratize Education” Web site.
Sure, we are all for education reform, lower fees and no furloughs. We wish that we could pay our service workers more money and stop the lay-offs. However, what do gender-neutral bathrooms have to do with fee-hikes? Why do we need to include the issue of disciplinary action against the Irvine 11 in our education reform protests?
We may be for or against these specific causes, but the fact is that the longer the list of demands becomes, the more difficult it will be to get it passed. We cannot just keep tacking-on issues in order to get more supporters. We realize we need more bodies and voices but simply blending every cause and group into one huge mega-protest is not going to cut it. If anything, the mishmash of issues will only alienate and discourage people who may have otherwise participated in advocating education reform.
This being said, we DO want to protest. We want to shout and jump and scream, block roads and hold posters and chant. We want to take back UCI but we need more people to do it.
Our protest was only about half the size of Berkeley’s and UCLA’s. Most students went to class; some did not even know that the protest was going on.
We are advocating for more music, less noise. We want organization, not mindless yelling. We want change and we want you to give it to us, UCI. See you at the flagpoles.
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UCI Alum Says:
Well said and I couldn’t agree more. We in the left tend to dilute our message with these scattershot protests.
Posted on March 9th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Ali A Mustansir Says:
I agree that college students tend to live by an “apathy is cool” mindset. However, it seems to me that many students nationwide are starting to stand up and say something about education. It isn’t new, just louder.
But louder is good. The squeaky wheel gets the grease.
Posted on March 11th, 2010 at 5:06 pm
bystander Says:
The inclusion of what may seem to be other issues in the list of demands and protests demonstrates that these protests aren’t just about tuition hikes, though the hikes may provide an impetus. Even if the demands aren’t met, it recognizes that these problems run deeper and spread farther than it may seem if you’re just looking at the current UC budget issue.
I at first thought the demand for gender neutral bathrooms was strange, too. But after learning more about the issues and attending teach-ins and lectures on campus, I realize that it’s a whole new vision of the university that the protests call for, not simply reduced fees. This requires a new mindset about how the university and the campus environment should be. As you wrote, we can inspire revolutions, and revolutions call for such an outlook, not just regime change under the same ideology or surface concessions. Gender neutral bathrooms may not be realized, but the demand shows me that those protesters want an environment that isn’t divided along gender lines. The case of the Irvine 11 highlights the structural discrimination in the UC that allows students doing an organized protest against a sponsored government official to be arrested when real heckling and interruption of speeches happens all the time on campus without any intervention.
The fee-hikes aren’t the root of the problem; they’re just a symptom and that’s why you’ve got people who are looking at a more comprehensive picture of the situation rather than the fee-hikes alone. Which method will prove successful, if any? Even if tuition is reduced, it may help some students, but won’t address the deeper issues about higher education and society. Those are the issues that led to this problem, and that need to be looked at. I feel almost hopeless that students will be able to effect change on such a level, but to accept tuition reduction as a victory is false hope, so in the end I think it’s better to raise the issues.
The campus needs more people informing students about the issues, though, even if just about the fee-hike and budget problems. I think many students are apathetic because they don’t see the need for change, have no idea what’s going on, or are confused by the idea of protest as something bad, oppositional or reactionary without real purpose or thought. This latter reason I’ve seen reinforced by the chancellor’s emails and the police response on campus. Or maybe we’ve been taught to be passive and helpless for so long that it seems scary or crazy to actually think or do something for ourselves. College kids who are taught that they need to have this or that to look good on their resume or that they need to figure out their career track are taught to toe the line, not to mess it all up by getting in trouble or arrested. Just ideas, because I myself fall into some of these categories.
Also, I’ve heard many people say the “apathy is cool” thing, but in many ways I think that draws a line between the people already involved and those potential participants. To be invested in the protests means for most students that they’re doing it for more than just themselves, and in order to do that, there needs to be more of a community at UCI. Instead of “if you’re not with us you’re against us,” why not talk to more people? I haven’t seen a lot of that on campus. I find the divisive attitude intimidating and that in part may keep people separate. Instead of complaining about people being apathetic and standing by, go talk to them and when you dance, get them to dance with you. I understand to an extent the “us” and “them” and the secrecy, but I think the movement needs to be a lot more inclusive, and actively.
Posted on March 12th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
jamesbliss Says:
I wonder how many times you have to walk across Watson Bridge and past the plaque dedicating Watson Bridge to realize that it’s called Watson Bridge.
Posted on March 25th, 2010 at 9:51 pm