Ripe to rebel

“What does protest look like at Duke?” This was a question posed by my English teacher in class one day. At first, my mind drew a blank as I struggled to recollect images of students with picket signs marching in front of the Chapel. When no specific instances sprang to mind, I concluded that protest, as I understood it, is not currently active here.

However, recent events seemed to have proven me wrong. Recently, Duke Partnership for Service (dPS) attempted to raise awareness regarding the human rights violations in Congo with an event co-sponsored by the Enough Project during Duke’s annual event, Countdown to Craziness. Although initially supportive of the event, Duke Athletics later cancelled this portion of Countdown due to Duke’s associations with electronics companies, whose interests may be harmed by the message of the project.

Incidents like this one make me wonder how many student activist efforts have been stifled by Duke’s administration. The lessons we learn from community service projects like DukeEngage, designed to raise awareness of the social and political issues in the world around us, are erased when we return to campus with no outlet to tell the world what we have seen, and what we are still not seeing.

Today, activism at Duke manifests itself through talks, discussions and events, like the one described above, that seek to engage students in issues by providing them with information rather than simply instigating them to acts of protest. And, I don’t see anything wrong with this form of activism. There is a time for learning-based activism and there is a time for outright protest. I personally feel that, to become enlightened citizens, we must first learn about the issues we care about before we just take to picketing.

But when our attempts at education-based activism are shut down, when we are told that the propriety and interest of the school are ranked higher than our causes and our grievances, then we have the right to seek more active forms of protest.

Unfortunately, the atmosphere of the University doesn’t seem to lend itself well to mass gatherings of students. I’m talking about our Plaza. How many people would want to demonstrate in a place that sounds more like a resort? In contrast to UNC’s Pit, a large, circular area conducive to student assemblies, the Plaza has a more linear shape, discouraging such large-scale activities. It makes one wonder if this factor was considered during its design. Granted, the Plaza is an area almost always filled with activity, and various representatives from student organizations waving flyers in our faces trying to get us to support their causes. But an actual, full-fledged protest would be difficult, unless we were trying to block off public access to the Dillo—which could arouse significant public outrage, but would probably not help the effort.

The administration isn’t solely to blame for the inclination against protest on our campus. It could be purely psychological. What I’m trying to ask is if we, as students, are afraid of active protest? Are the ramifications to our record what deter us? Maybe to some extent. But I also think reputation plays a significant role—what our friends think of us. Because the image of the die-hard revolutionary is not very common here, it’s almost discouraged. As much as I hate to admit it, our parents might have been even crazier than we are now as they protested the Vietnam War. Crazier. But also braver.

Then, of course, there are times when students mobilize, but against more trivial issues. Injustice is not an invisible enemy. There are glaring civil rights issues and gender and sexual orientation-related rights violations that deserve to be brought to the public’s attention and to be fought for. But recently, we seem to be preoccupied with fighting for our privileges. Notice I say privileges, not rights. The latter is guaranteed to individuals by human nature or civic society, the former refers to opportunities that we are given when we deserve them. Protesting for a privilege that we have caused to be revoked is not only childishness; it is a firm slap-in-the-face to the issues that need and merit our attention and our voices.