[514] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: Protesting Fun?
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Andrew M Starr)
Thu May 3 17:39:23 2001
Message-Id: <200105032138.RAA11991@all-night-tool.mit.edu>
To: "Richard J. Barbalace" <rjbarbal@MIT.EDU>
cc: mit-talk@MIT.EDU, drew@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 03 May 2001 15:24:35 EDT."
<200105031924.PAA01597@starbase.mit.edu>
Date: Thu, 03 May 2001 17:38:35 -0400
From: Andrew M Starr <drew@MIT.EDU>
hmm....
have to question that "support" you allege coming from the student body.
http://www.thecrimson.com/specials/article.asp?ref=12625
That is a link to an article discussing Harvard undergraduate support for the Living Wage.
53% support the goals of the protest.
A year ago, 69% did. While not having enough information about demographic changes in the Harvard body over that year,
it is just my guess that this REDUCTION in support is a result of the tactics used by the protestors. This theory is
backed up by the poll which said 2 out of 5 students were LESS likely to support a Living Wage as a direct result of
the sit-in.
Also of interest... only 23% of undergrads (including just 44% of those who claim to support a Living Wage) would
continue to do so if it meant their tuition would raise. (Possible translation?: Sure I'd like the people who serve
me to be paid more, as long as I don't have to pay it).
In terms of the sit-in itself. Half of all students are against it. Only 32% called is justified.
Now, some info heard anecdotally... view it as such. I trust these sources, but since the discussions I had with them
were not public, I will not make their names nor positions public. If you have counter-sources, please respond.
The number of protestors actively sitting-in now numbers at just 24. (down from an estimated 60).
Many of the remaining 24 are lobbying for special consideration in academics for not having done a damn thing in
classes for the last 3 weeks. If this is indeed true, it's a slap in the face to those who founded the concept of
civil disobedience... Gandhi and Martin Luther King didn't request special dispensation during their acts of
disobedience.
Most of the students are not financial aid recipients (a distinctly higher proportion compared to the overall Harvard
demographic). I'm not at liberty to indicate the exact number that I was told, as I do not believe that is public infoI recently had the opportunity to see Les Miserables again (it's still playing, go see it!). And the
question was raised in that show if such acts are "simply a game for rich young boys to play." By this information,
maybe it is. (I personally saw a lot of designer tents there this afternoon)
ObMIT: There are powerful lessons to be learned here. Positive actions are more likely to result in positive change
than negative actions are. (has anyone else noticed just how LOUD these protests have been? Again, if these folks
are trying to take a page out of history, they're not doing a good job of it... successful forms of civil disobedience
have been relatively tacit, not boisterous and obnoxious as these students have been characterized). On the flip side,
in my time here, MIT has had at least one positive example of protesting in our response to the BLB shutting down
Skull House for Skuffle. If / when the need arises to protest community / administrative actions, I hope we don't
make the same mistakes currently being made in Hahvahd Yahd where people who AGREE with the protestors are starting
to rething thier beliefs.
Also ObMIT: Just trying to inject some numbers into this discussion. A "discussion" relying on emotions and poorly
explained opinions alone is nothing more than a fruitless argument.
|> I've dropped by Harvard Yard a couple times in the past week to see
|> how their protest is going (most recently yesterday while eating free
|> Ben&Jerry's). I've been struck by two things about their living
|> wage campaign:
|>
|> 1) These student protestors have an enormous amount of support from
|> not just students, but also faculty, staff, parents, city
|> councillors, national organizations, news media, etc.
|> 2) They think protesting is fun.
|>
|> I keep being surprised most by the second point. Even though it's
|> been a lot of work, frustration, and loss of studying, they actually
|> seem to enjoy protesting. That's something I think just doesn't
|> happen at MIT. Here students hate protesting; they only protest when
|> the administration does something truly egregious, and still consider
|> it a chore and hope to get back to problem sets as quickly as
|> possible.
|>
|> I wonder if MIT student protests and actions would be more effective
|> if people enjoyed them.... Or if even then, and with as much support
|> from faculty and others as the living wage protestors have, student
|> activism would be doomed due to the MIT Administration being as
|> asininely obstinate as the Harvard Administration.
|>
|> Anyway, there's an interesting article in the Globe today about the
|> Harvard protestors:
|> http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/123/nation/A_life_of_its_own+.shtml
|> In a way, it sounds like a great hack.
|>
|> + Richard
|>
