Campus Activism

Kevin Wang
APA 2 Section 2

Week 2

Berkeley FSM: Paving the way for Campus Activism

Political activism on college campuses serves an important function in society, and the Berkeley FSM helped in paving the way. In this article, Robby Cohen describes the incident itself from start to finish and the impact it had on campuses in the nation. I appreciated that the student protesters were non-violent remained so despite the intensity of the situation. What I noticed, was that according to the article, there was a clear leader, Mario Savio. His active role in the FSM and in Weinberg’s arrest played a huge part in the success of the protests. It seemed from the article that there were clear goals and demands in the movement and Savio communicated them to the school’s administration. What I wondered after reading is if the Occupy Movement, Ferguson protests, and tuition increase protests have clear leaders and goals. I think I am representative of an ‘average’ student in terms of political participation. I am aware of them and the events leading up to them, but will only participate in certain circumstances. My question is, who are the clear leaders of today’s movements, and are they leading us effectively?