It seems students are finally standing up for themselves. Not only at this university, but on campuses across the country, students are telling administrators and their state legislatures that enough is enough. Last Thursday, about 5,000 people descended on the University of California, Berkeley, campus to protest staggering budget cuts. And throughout the University of California system, students walked out of classrooms to protest harsh steps being taken by the state to close a budget gap of more than $813 million.
Closer to home, we face a less dramatic crisis and have seen less dramatic action. Nevertheless, there is reason to be optimistic about student activism. Students repeatedly asked the administration to post the university budget online. The administration refused, so students did it themselves. Student Government Association Arts and Humanities Legislator Kenton Stadler downloaded the budget from Hornbake Library and circulated it among students and faculty. The document is now available on The Diamondback’s website, the SGA’s website and Diamondback columnist Malcolm Harris’ blog. Students did what the administration wouldn’t.
The budget is a massive but incredibly vague document that only a bureaucrat would be able to decipher, but it was a nice change to see students taking the initiative. Far too often when authority figures shoot down an idea or say something can’t be done, people retreat or give up. However, some students have shown that doesn’t have to be the case.
Though the budget doesn’t tell us much in terms of specifics, the actions taken by students do tell us they are taking transparency seriously. Students can have no real impact on budgetary discussions without access to the same knowledge as administrators. Stadler plans on introducing legislation to get more specific details from department heads to give students more background on what should and shouldn’t be cut.
The actions of students at this university and those in California, a state that is suffering much more serious cuts than Maryland, are an indicator that we can be a driving force in policy. Students now should look towards more ways of making a difference. Whether it be related to budget cuts or city elections or keeping SGA representatives accountable, students can seize the upper hand through activism. By posting the budget online, students may have created some momentum to show they care.
To keep the momentum, students must go beyond making the budget available. We must make good use of it. The SGA, student groups and the unaffiliated should all work together to try to break down what the budget means and come up with ways to sort and search the information available. Through the crowd, information can be made truly free.
Apathy is the refuge of losers. If the administration thinks students don’t care or aren’t serious, we shouldn’t expect much change. We’re not at the stage Cal is. Students don’t need to walk out of class or hold up clever signs to make a difference; they just need to participate in the democratic bodies that already exist on the campus or set up meetings with administrators to air their concerns face to face.
By taking solid, concrete steps to make student voices heard and increase our access to information, we can show them our opinions matter. For a university administrator, a passionate student armed with facts can be a frightening thing.
Now is the time to agitate.
