Last week, a group of students, Students for Change, walked out of a town hall forum sought to address the problems of racial and ethnic discrimination on campus due to a disagreement in format. Binghamton University sought to divide the group — by allowing individuals to go table to table to speak with representatives of the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (ODEI) and express their concerns. Yet, the voice of many is more powerful than one.
Many of the protests last semester, both on campus and throughout the country, inspired the group to propose a series of demands intended to resolve the diversity issues on campus. Some demands included a mandatory cultural competency course as a general education requirement, an expansion of the Multicultural Resource Center and the ODEI, and hiring more minorities to accurately reflect the demographics of New York state. Students came to the forum expecting their voices to be heard in unison — able to build off each other to push forward the issues they believe in, but the University denied them that opportunity.
I encourage the dialogue not as an endorsement of their movement, but because I believe student activism is more important to this campus — and many others across the country — than any other issue. Students spend four years at a college — a good portion of their lives — and I believe they should seek to impact change in their community.
Many student groups exist at this University — they discuss ideas, but do not reach out to the University to create the positive change they believe in. They need to learn more and utilize the tools provided to them. I believe Students for Change can be the force that pushes students to do something about the issues they believe in.
Throughout the 1970s, BU was one of the most politically active campuses in the country. Protests were common on campus, from complaints about grading policies to dissatisfaction with a campus curfew. Students organized and stood up for issues they were passionate about and did so successfully without the modern-day tools we take for granted, like social media. Students, once again, need to rally together and fight for what they believe in — putting pressure on the University to listen. And with time, the change demanded will come — so long as the University officials listen to them as one.
I believe the University officials acted with what they believe are the best intentions for the students, yet it was wrong to deny a format to the very students they are attempting to hear out. It is impossible for just one person to properly relay the sentiments of many — the concerns of students need to snowball into a greater cohesive argument.
Every BU student needs to take a page from the notebook of Students for Change. They need to stand up and express their concerns on campus — or even off campus, in the community around us. The only way to impact change is to take action — and I hope students draw inspiration from the ongoing events, for issues throughout the spectrum. Activism is more than just politics — it is about fighting for an issue as one.