In a recent story, the Winston- Salem Journal reported on the creation of several free-speech zones on the Winston-Salem State campus.
The zones were seen by the board of trustees as a way to center student protests, though some saw it as an attempt to censure student opinions on campus.
However, the bigger question becomes: why do we even need the free speech zones?
First of all, it seems that this school is run quite well. It’s not that I am saying that things are perfect, but shouldn’t there come a day when we can sit back and say we’ve arrived?
Certainly there are a few areas that students might not be happy with, but for the majority, we’re pretty content with the way things are. The school is growing quickly, departments are becoming more and more forward thinking and people are having their needs met more quickly, and reliably than ever. There’s never been more of a reason to enjoy going to WSSU, and also be able to enjoy not having to spend so much time worrying about the little things.
Also, in turbulent times in the 60s and 70s, the only way to get things done was to protest. There wasn’t anyone listening to the voices of the students and attempting to make changes that would benefit them. They had problems that they wanted to address, as well as discontent with other global issues.
However, while the world is becoming smaller, students are much more focused only on what’s going on in their backyards. They simply don’t have the time to think about the war in Iraq, or the strife in Kenya. There are pressing issues at home to deal with.
Meanwhile, if they have problems, there are smoother and more accessible channels to deal with them than going out the protest.
These days, people pay less attention to protests than they did in earlier years. It is much more effective to approach the right people with the right forms, if you want to truly accomplish something.
Bureaucracy may seem a little less glamorous and certainly less radical, however, the right person with the right contacts is much more able to make change than the rabble-rouser.
We all remember JFK’s grand ideas for civil rights, however it was Lyndon Johnson’s pragmatic insider’s knowledge and leverage that actually achieved the success of the Civil Rights Act.
It’s easy to see that unless you’re on the board of trustees, it’s not simple to have your opinion heard. One’s first response might be a protest, but there are some that would just see it as “sound and fury, signifying nothing.” A lot of protests might lead to change, but not without a digging in by the administration, who wouldn’t want to seem that they were swayed by an uprising.
Finally, students find it hard to mobilize behind any one cause, and the faces that they see at the head of those issues are wearing out their welcome. The feeling I got from a lot of the students that I spoke with is that every time they turn around, they are looking at the same individuals who are hosting forums, leading rallies, and giving speeches.
There’s nothing wrong with achieving, but it’s hard to get worked up about something when every couple of weeks, the same person is trying to get your attention.
Pretty soon, like a song that you hear over and over again on the radio, you tend to tune them out, and try to find something more interesting. This is not to disparage the student leaders we have on campus, but it doesn’t seem that any of them are electrifying the student body in a way that makes students want to go out and protest.
When UNCW was faced with the same situation, they protested and had the decision reversed. I’m sure that most of the WSSU student population wasn’t even interested or aware that this was going on.
This doesn’t mean that the students don’t care, their priorities are just elsewhere, and rightly so. There are more pressures and stresses on today’s student than their ’60s and ’70s counterparts. If they are to truly succeed in school and life, it’s vitally important that they have their priorities straight.
There is nothing wrong with protesting to make a person’s life better, but sometimes, they’re just not worth it.