I couldn’t be more thrilled that President Obama halted offshore drilling due to a public outcry.
More than 45 demonstrations across the country demanded a stop to offshore drilling. First, the Energy Action Coalition organization called the events a “Crude Awakening.” Then CNN. Then NBC. Soon, news media outlets from coast to coast were covering “Crude Awakening” events, until President Obama knew he had no chance but to listen to the American people.
It turns out grassroots activism still works. But I’d like to acknowledge the bureaucratic layers I had to conquer in order to set up the “Crude Awakening” demonstration.
The first is that the University discourages student activism. Despite the 1970s University protests being showcased in “The Princeton Review” and the U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Colleges,” such student activism rarely occurs on our campus today. In my eyes, this isn’t because students don’t care about taking action. Rather, it is because activism threatens the corporate structure that the University depends on.
When I wanted to organize an event, the first order of business was figuring out what hoops I had to jump through. Since I am not a director of a University-recognized organization, I couldn’t reserve the EMU Amphitheater. In order to do so, I would need to seek out individuals with some authority.
So I went to the first like-minded organization I could think of: Campus Recycling. They jumped on the idea with full force, immediately delegating event preparations to personnel. But as more logistics came into the picture, I realized organizing this demonstration would become a full-time job.
The next order of business was funding. I’d need to find the means to pay for bands, sound, visual supplies and a University-sanctioned sound monitor to make sure we weren’t too loud. With oil fouling the Gulf waters more and more by the minute, time-restrictions led me to ask for funding from the ASUO. But once again, bureaucratic restrictions brought my efforts to a halt.
Campus Recycling, OSPIRG, and the Climate Justice League — all organizations that I had recruited for the event — couldn’t request funding from an end-of-year surplus totaling around $26,000 dollars.
Campus Recycling was institutionalized. OSPIRG was axed. The Climate Justice League was still making a name for itself. So I sailed the seas of ASUO-recognized groups until calling upon the Coalition Against Environmental Racism (CAER) to be my vehicle for sponsorship.
CAER sponsored the event with open arms and, subsequently, after convincing a room full of critical senators why the event should receive a mere $800 (following an allotment of $15,000 dollars for a new sustainability coordinator), I had the tools to make my vision a reality.
Almost.
I still needed to book the bands and get sound equipment. Booking the bands was easy, as it only required personal networking. But convincing the University to lend me equipment such as a microphone stand ($30.00 value) turned out to be near impossible.
While we pay nearly $200.000 a term in student fees, it’s amazing how much of that money gets funneled into unused resources. When I visited Event Scheduling, I saw thousands of dollars worth of sound equipment sitting unused. Although more than 40 students were working on the event, they cited an “impromptu notice” (1 week prior) as their reasoning for not providing any equipment.
I love Eugene. I love everything it has to offer. But the quasi-corporate structure the University embraces is killing its activist roots and progressive spirit. After working countless hours just trying to schedule the event and get a small chunk of funding from the ASUO surplus, the University wouldn’t even supply me with a speaker cable.
I didn’t let that stop the event. I continued to call upon the noble crusaders of this town, and after hectic hours of making phone calls and pulling strings from various lifelines, a sound tech offered to throw down some equipment and his services at a cheap price. I just wish the school I love so much wasn’t straying so far from its ideals of a collective body of working knowledge. With every $2 million back-room resignation handout, sweatshop endorsement, and bureaucratic termination of pristine professors — we continue down a path of dangerous submissiveness. At least the student body is still on its toes.
I believe the event (completely organized by students with no assistance from University resources) had a profound impact on the community. Although my original vision was drowned by unavoidable realities (Oregon weather, student class schedules, and more than 40 calls from the President’s office demanding for it to be shut down), I’m thrilled that public outcry can still cause legislative reform. Change is still possible when it starts from the bottom-up.
But not if the grassroots movements take a vacation.
This past week, British Petroleum admitted they may not be able to stop the leaking oil until late August. Scientists warn that this summer might be the worst hurricane season in the Gulf since 2005. And I’m worried that the progress we’re making might be squandered by something like Lindsay Lohan’s next DUI.
Students have worked tirelessly all year protesting the Pacifica Forum and an unjust termination of a political science professor. History has shown with movements such as the Berkeley Vietnam War Protest of the 1960s that progress is squashed during times of public ignorance.
My prediction is that professor Ken DeBevoise will get fired over summer break, and offshore drilling will be reinstated after the six-month moratorium ends conveniently close to Christmas Day.
Prove me wrong.
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Cutting the red tape
Daily Emerald
June 2, 2010
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