Thursday, February 27, 1997
ACTIVISM:
Positive changes must begin with student supportBy Robin
Pendoley
"Hey, would you like to pledge your support to the environment?"
Keep your head down. Don’t make eye contact. Just keep walking.
"Would you like to sign a postcard to decrease student fees and
increase financial aid?" Oh no, they’ve got clipboards! Once they
stop you, you’ll never get away. They’re gonna ask for money.
They’re gonna waste your time.
Sound familiar? You’re on your way to class on Bruin Walk, in
Royce Quad, in LuValle Commons, just minding your own business,
thinking about the paper due next week. Then you see them. The
enemy appears, armed with clipboards, just itchin’ to waste your
time and steal your money. This whole "student activism" thing is
just a front.
Maybe I should introduce myself. I am the UCLA chapter chair and
the State Board Chair of the California Public Research Interest
Group (CALPIRG), the statewide student directed environmental
group. We are a grassroots organization focused on organizing
students to effectively voice their opinions and make a difference
on issues students care about.
Last month I went to Washington D.C. as one of two
representatives of CALPIRG to a national PIRG meeting and lobby
session. I met with PIRG students from around the nation to discuss
how best to continue organizing and on what issues the students we
represent most want us to focus our energy.
I also participated in two days of lobbying on Capitol Hill with
140 other PIRG students and staff. We met with the offices of over
300 Congress members to discuss the expansion of the Toxic Right to
Know Act and Campaign Finance Reform. An 18-year-old student from
UCLA walked the halls of Congress, the workplace of the decision
makers of the most powerful nation in the world, to create positive
changes on behalf of 25,000 student CALPIRG members around the
state of California.
So, what does all of this qualify me as? A student activist.
As I stated before, I am part of an organization that works to
organize the voice of students on issues that concern them. We
recruit volunteers to work on beach clean-ups, food and clothing
drives for the homeless, campaign finance reform and reducing the
amount of toxic chemicals in the environment. But how does all of
this work get done? How do we recruit? How do those volunteers
encourage the students at large to voice their opinions? We pick up
our clipboards.
Oh no. Here they go. They’re going to preach about the issues
like those evangelists on Bruin Walk. They probably think I’m a
sinner if I don’t sign their postcard.
Take another look. Have another listen. These are students who
are addressing issues because they are issues that students are
concerned about. These are students who are trying to help you find
a voice about your issues beyond your coffee shop banter and
classroom discussions of some impending social or physical doom.
These are students trying to help their peers convert voices into
action.
We don’t sound quite so devious and maniacal anymore, do we?
Those clipboards and those introduction lines aren’t the edge of an
abyss that swallows time and money anymore, are they? But the
question still exists: Does any of this really make a
difference?
I began each meeting by giving a 10 minute introduction of the
bill to expand the Right to Know Act, which requires reporting of
the use and emissions of chemicals that are known to cause health
problems like cancer and birth defects by corporations. After this
introduction, the first thing that the Congressmember would ask for
is proof of constituent support. To be a successful and effective
student activist should I proceed to assure the Congressmember that
in my opinion the constituents do support this issue, or should I
let the constituents, the students speak for themselves?
Being the successful student activists that we are Â
self-proclaimed, but successful nonetheless  we reach across
the desk with hands full, arms full, boxes full of postcards or
petitions signed by the constituents, the students saying that they
support the issue with their very own voices. These students,
constituents, voices have the amazing and very real power of
democratic persuasion.
Still not convinced? A group of UCLA CALPIRG interns met with
Representative Henry Waxman of Westwood last month to discuss the
Right to Know Act. At the meeting, the student interns presented
Representative Waxman with 800 postcards signed by his
constituents, all UCLA students, urging him to sponsor the bill in
Congress. Later that afternoon it was announced that Representative
Waxman had signed on as the original sponsor of the bill. So, by
stopping and simply filling out a postcard, what are you?
You are a student.
You are a constituent.
You are a voice.
You are the difference.