It seems that college students sitting in front of bulldozers, walking out on things, sitting in on things and generally challenging authority is nothing new in the United States. For a time, during the ‘60s and ‘70s, staging a protest was almost synonymous with college, while today it is synonymous with maybe only a few specific colleges, like Berkeley. As a generation, have we become more docile? Do we not have causes we believe in anymore? Do we just hate fighting “the Man” these days, or, perhaps, have some of us become more complacent?
But the truth of the matter is that college students are out there protesting, even if our campus seems to be, well, rather quiet. Speaking of Berkeley, our friends in Northern California were wrapped up in a startling protest that got the nation’s attention on Sept. 27.
Get this: There was a bake sale, which is always good news. But it was designed to be a “satirical” bake sale. Satirical cookies? Yeah, now you see how this could go awry. The College Republicans at Berkeley designed the demonstration to spark discussion on pending affirmative action legislation within the UC system. To do so, they sold baked goods at differing prices based on race, gender and ethnicity. Pricing was as follows: $2 for whites, $1.50 for Asians, $1.00 for Latinos, 75 cents for Blacks, 25 cents for Native Americans and an additional 25 cents off for females. Soon, the tally of how many muffins they sold took backseat to the sight of hundreds of students wearing all black and literally lying around the radical bake sale — just another Tuesday at Berkeley.
We know this would never happen at Pepperdine. And, yes, those cookies were racist. But, if something like that bake sale were to happen on our sleepy campus, would anyone do anything? We’d like to think so, but we’re also not holding our breath. Experience hints that we wouldn’t.
The most recent event that came close to protest on Pepperdine’s campus, that current Graphic staffers could recall, was the response to last year’s Free Speech Wall, which began as a celebration of our rights to free speech under the Constitution during its anniversary week. The only protest was a protest of one — the student who tore it down. He took the vigilante route because many students, possibly stuck in their junior high years, took advantage of the anonymity of the wall by leaving obscene, discriminatory messages and sometimes crude images. The idea of the wall was a great thing, but when the message got muddled in a murky sea of immaturity, why was there only one student who was willing to take a stand? Chances are decent that he wasn’t the only one who was offended by the lack of respect for our constitutional right. Whether you agree with his decision to tear it down, you’ve got to respect his guts to do so.
Now, the Graphic staff isn’t suggesting people all over campus start to protest more. We’re just wondering, why don’t we see grassroots demonstrations on our campus? Are we that scared of being different? We all know many Pepperdine students step outside of themselves to initiate domestic and international projects, so why won’t we stand up for something on campus? Maybe we can’t bear risking our comfort and personal image to take a stand (or sit or lay down) in front of our peers? Berkeley, though a much larger school, even has a section dedicated to campus protests on its Academic Senate website. Maybe Pepperdine’s students just aren’t that type? Maybe we approach these kinds of issues more academically than actively, with research and organized outreaches rather than impulsive measures to “stick it to the Man.”
And who’s to say which is better? We do our fair share of caring for social causes through the Volunteer Center, IJM, student-led projects and more, but there’s something missing. The same could be said for protests — the Berkeley bake sale and student protests did elicit the discussion they sought to begin, but something seems to be missing there, too. Perhaps the best solution is an amalgamation. People like Martin Luther King Jr. skillfully blended an academic approach with one of passionate action. You can’t say that MLK was just a great speaker or just led some great boycotts — he did both and successfully fueled the civil rights movement. You don’t have to be MLK, and you certainly don’t have to start planning another March on Washington, but perhaps Pepperdine students should look at how they approach or don’t approach issues on campus. Maybe a good ol’ fashion protest is what’s missing. Perhaps we need to “stick it to the Man” every now and then to make our voices heard. 
