Tufts prof: campus activism 'unresolved'

Social activism at Tufts, though a very present force in previous years, has cooled some this semester. While social movements are still a prominent part of campus life _ as illustrated by Monday's anti-war rally _ the University has yet to see activism comparable to last year's environment.

The reason for this drop in activism is not clear. Political Science Professor Gary McKissick _ who teaches the class Social Movements in American Politics, a course which examines the nature of social movements and their causes _ says there may be several causes for this phenomenon.

Since last year, McKissick observed that his class has nearly doubled in size, which could indicate increased interest in social movements at Tufts. Yet, if so, this new interest has not led to increased activism on campus.

A partial explanation for the subdued atmosphere may be attributed to what McKissick calls "all of the nastiness from last year."

Protestors from last year were singled out when they involved themselves in campus activism. Iris Halpern's (LA'02) involvement in the Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM) put her in the limelight last year, leading to repeated articles by the conservative PrimarySource that caused her to file several charges of libel and sexual harassment. At the time, Halpern accused the Source of going out of its way to make her life difficult.

As a result of all the coverage, many people are not as eager to put themselves in a public position this year, McKissick said.

But the Source does not feel it did anything wrong, nor that its coverage should stop anyone from being an activist. "I don't think anything the Source says about individual activists has any cause on student activism at Tufts," Source Editor-in-Chief Megan Liotta said, adding that activists should expect coverage. "If people are not willing to be criticized, then maybe they aren't up for the job of being an activist in the first place."

A second reason for the decrease in social activism on campus is a general uncertainty about current issues, McKissick said, in light of the current US political and social conditions in the wake of Sept. 11, 2001_ and particularly surrounding the issue of war with Iraq. "People are legitimately unsure about what's right and what's wrong," McKissick said. This makes them "a lot less likely to speak up."

Student activists, though, don't feel it's time to lie down yet. "We doubt the effectiveness of our voices, but it's important not to give up on activism because it is the essence of democracy," said junior Emily Good, who recently attended an anti-globalization rally in Washington, DC.

But activists will start to have a larger presence on campus soon, McKissick predicts. "I think that there's still a lot bubbling under the surface about the cultural environment and race relations," he said. "There's a lot of stuff that's unresolved."

In previous years, the debate over giving votes to culture representatives on the Tufts Community Union Senate stirred a great deal of controversy. There was also a recent movement to increase the number of courses about Asian American studies.

In his class, McKissick tries to look at the broader picture when examining social movements.

This is accomplished by "just trying to understand where social movements fit in the politics of American government," McKissick said. "What we're trying to do is to understand... political behavior."

Source Editor-in-Chief Emeritus Sam Dangremond, which often speaks out against liberal activists, opposes this method of encouraging campus activism. "Overall this University places entirely too much emphasis on activism," he said, "even to the point of institutionalizing it."

McKissick's course does not attempt to teach students to be activists, but those inclined to protest can learn from the experience. "The people involved [are probably] a little bit wiser about how they can actually express some kind of voice in the political system," McKissick said.

The class also teaches the value that social movements bring to their surrounding community, McKissick said, even when these causes fail to be immediately realized. "I think that there are a lot of benefits that come from these kinds of mobilizations," he said, "even if they don't stop, for instance, the cutting down of rainforests."

The way to measure a movement's productivity, McKissick said, is not simply to look at the political outcome, but to assess how it affects the people involved. "More people [are probably] thinking about these issues than would have been otherwise," he asked.

But Dangremond disagreed with this method of teaching. "Tufts would be a far better place if it taught its students to be humble in their opinions and guided them towards disciplines that encouraged critical thinking rather than 'making your voice heard,'" he said.

Activism usually "just teaches over-privileged busybodies how to use a bullhorn," Dangremond said.

In his course, McKissick said, students' enthusiasm for specific social or political issues adds to the experience. "It makes being in the classroom exactly what you hope it's going to be when you decide to be a professor," he said.

The class focuses on the way activism is implemented rather than its history, McKissick said. "The names, dates, and faces of any particular movement, which are incredibly important and interesting, are not really what we deal with in this class," he said.

What he is looking to do, however, is "to take [student] passion and nurture it and help [students] to think more systematically about what it is they're doing."