Proud to be an American?

In 1969, a proposed fee increase of $135 sent IU students into action. Students arranged a two-day boycott of classes and burned an effigy of board of trustees member Frank McKinney in protest. To make their feelings known, about 130 students locked negotiators in Ballantine Hall for about three hours. The lock-in prompted a grand jury investigation as well as a rally to support the students involved. The two-day boycott extended to a nine-day boycott as students let administrators know how they felt about paying an additional $135.\nRetired professor of education Ellen Brantlinger remembers the lock-in.\n"My sense was that the paper treated it as big, big news," said Brantlinger, who came to IU in 1969 as a doctoral student. "I think they kind of admired the students, but implied this wasn't the way to go about (making changes)." \nIU students also made their voices heard about the Vietnam War. In October 1969, 3,500 students gathered at Showalter Fountain and marched to Dunn Meadow to hear anti-ROTC talks. That same month, demonstrators protested Dow Chemical Co. coming on campus to conduct job interviews because Dow manufactured napalm, a chemical used in Vietnam. Thirty-five protestors were arrested. \nThirty-six years later, IU students are facing similar issues. Tuition increases and additional student fees are constant issues, and the current war in Iraq has sparked its share of debates. But gone are the large demonstrations in Dunn Meadow, the sit-ins and the class boycotts. \nSophomore Andrew Lauck, chairman of the IU College Republicans, said he believes activism is declining on campus, something he attributes to the 2004 presidential election.\n"(Protests) picked up during the election period because of the campus's hatred of George W. Bush," he said. "His re-election has basically killed what was going on (at IU). It's a political shift. Now that we have a president, congressmen and a governor all from the same party, it's not really a high time for activism. People from both sides realize there's a Republican control over the legislature for at least the next two years. If you're a liberal, there's not really anything you can do in at least the next two years. There's not much to raise hell about now."\nSenior Jared Fallick, chairman of the IU College Democrats, said he thinks student activism is still present; it's just different from the protests of the '60s.\n"Activism today still goes on," he said. "Students are more involved in community issues than political problems. I wouldn't say activism is dead; it's taken on new forms. People are still out there doing things for the greater good."\nBrantlinger, Lauck and Fallick all offered their reasons for why protests are no longer popular ways of speaking out.\n"There's a limited segment that actually gets involved," Brantlinger said. "Some people just don't believe in protests, they don't believe it does any good. People who protest the war and get engaged with politics are seen as uniquely political. Those who sit at home and are couch potatoes endorse the status quo."\nLauck mentioned the liberal political structure in Bloomington affects student protests.\n"One, liberals already have control (in Bloomington) so they don't need to go out and raise hell. Two, conservatives know that (liberals have control), so they don't go out and raise hell," he said. "When one party has control, the tendency is for no one to step up, and if no one steps up, you're not going to see a change in activism."\nFallick said the main reasons for the difference in activism were the issues in the '60s, such as the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War. He said students were more outspoken about Vietnam because of the possibility of a draft. \n"'Draft' is the key that involved everyone," Fallick said.\nFallick also said the issues most prominent today, such as health care and Social Security, don't yet affect college students so they might not see a need to speak out. \n"Education costs and a draft potential are not really the hot-button issues of the day," he said. \nHowever, Lauck believes the difference lies in the general knowledge of the American public.\n"There's a major lack of understanding as to what's going on with (George W.) Bush's political agenda," he said. \nThe Persian Gulf War also drew demonstrations and protests on the IU campus. Jan. 15, 1991, about 1,000 protestors marched to the courthouse to protest a possible U.S.-Iraq war. Feb. 21 of that year, 125 protesters lay on floors and in hallways of Rawles Hall, protesting the ROTC on campus.\nBrantlinger said the earlier conflict in the Middle East attracted small groups of 30 to 60 protestors from the community.\n"Notions about the earlier war were not as widespread and intense," she said. "It seemed more legitimate to more people, so there were fewer protestors."\nWhatever the future holds for student activism, Lauck said a protest would need a considerable amount of student dissatisfaction.\n"It takes a hell of a lot of anger to make people our age get out and protest," he said.\n-- Contact Staff Writer Laura Kruty at lkruty@indiana.edu.