Pras Subedi
Contributing Writer
We live in times straight out of a horror movie. The very lives of people of color — especially Black and Latinx immigrants — are at constant threat from dangerous political rhetoric, systematic efforts to erode their basic human rights and preexisting structures. There is a large and coordinated effort to eradicate transgender healthcare, and eventually transgender people entirely. Our tax dollars continue to fund a genocide that has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians and injured almost another 100,000. This is just the tip of the iceberg.
It would be an understatement to just say that in times like these college campuses have contributed immensely to social justice and activism. In just the United States, college campuses have been harbingers of social justice, not staying silent.
I would be amiss to say our current student body has remained silent. At the same time, the Black Life on Campus and Queer Life on Campus displays from Special Collections show a very different story of Wooster in the last half century, with hundreds of student activists at a time standing in solidarity for issues like divesting from apartheid South Africa, civil rights, divesting from private prisons, queer rights, AIDs activism and so on.
So, what has changed?
While students have murmured and, at times, spoken out, the College has been suspiciously silent. Previous presidents of the College were not afraid to say Black Lives Matter or speak out against the overturning of Roe v. Wade, but this courage is a trait that many may find lacking in the current president who refuses to say “Free Palestine” or make an official statement against the eroding of transgender healthcare across the nation.
If that is not enough to make students wary of speaking out, perhaps many student activists are afraid they’ll open their email the next morning to receive an email addressed to the campus community where they are referred to as “bullies.” But is a hostile administration enough to dissuade student activists by itself? No.
First, students are tired. Being a student is a full-time job, and many students hold part-time jobs to support their income. The brunt of the activism is carried out by students who are already doing too much and are facing issues that model them into activists in the first place. The burden of activism weighs down students who are already suffering due to racism, transphobia or ableism.
Second, there isn’t enough intersectionality. This is more than a buzzword. I use the word neoactivism because neoactivism emphasizes the necessity of not building broad movements, not single issue movements. In a school of just 1500 people, it is difficult to build a movement large enough without broadening its goals and building alliances.
Third, there isn’t continuity. The abovementioned displays at Special Collections clearly show that students have been asking for the same thing time and again, to no avail. Students graduate and the push fizzles out, the administration changes and the push completely vanishes.
So, unless we are to bow our heads and quit fighting, what do we do?
Now, more than ever, we — student activists — need allies. BIPOC students, transgender students, disabled students, international students, survivors, first-gen students, low-income students and many other students whose very lives must revolve around activism are tired. If we are to call for meaningful change and respond as a student body it is so important for allies to speak up and join us. As contentious as it may be, I believe allyship is imperative if student activism wants to head forward.
