In defense of peaceful anger

On March 5, a fire broke out on my beloved West Coast. That fire was in the form of local protests by California college students, angry about hefty fee increases within the California university systems. The protests turned national and, in some cases, devolved into rioting.  

Wildfires are usually started by an unexpected spark of lightning, and are often cleansing and necessary to the ecosystem. And the fire I witnessed that Thursday in those angry young faces struck me the same way.

The spark that set off these protests might seem minor enough, taken by itself. The fee increase amounts to about $2,300 per year. That’s not peanuts, but it’s not necessarily incentive to riot.
But this lightning struck a pile of dried kindling that has been accumulating for some time. Some University of California students have circulated a list of various administrative salaries, and it’s eye-opening, to say the least. Several professors and administrators have earned over $300,000 in years during which they took months of extended leave. Some deputies have assistant deputies who earn six figures and benefits packages even more luxurious than those of members of Congress or Teamsters.

Now, imagine knowing this as a struggling student, trying to better your life through higher education. How do those cans of food and $200 textbooks in your dorm look now, knowing that the “Vice-Chancellor of Resource Management and Planning” at your college earns  $244,000 a year plus perks such as—get this—subsidized low-interest home loans? Maybe it’s not easy to get a home loan when you earn a paltry $244,000 a year. However, this is not an anomaly—there are literally hundreds of UC administrators who earn well over $200,000 a year. It adds up to easily over $100 million, borne in part by students who are nickel-and-dimed to financial ruin by their skyrocketing tuitions.

This absurd state of affairs is far too familiar in all of our important institutions today, not just colleges. And it is not something that just developed over the last 15 months, or eight years, or even 20 years. These protests are a direct and understandable outgrowth of a long-deteriorating civil and political atmosphere.

Bear with me and consider the following fact for a moment: had Hillary Clinton been elected President, most young adults in college would have never lived a single day of their lives until now without a Bush or a Clinton as the American commander-in-chief. We would have had 24 continuous years of just two families controlling our executive branch of government. At least Europeans who live under dynasties and monarchies get harmless, superfluous old aristocrats who are just expected to act dignified. We get Slick Willy and Dubya.    

But, does it even matter whom we get anymore? Many of those college students who worked their hearts out admirably to affect the last election cycle feel shortchanged for their efforts. Americans put a fresh face in the White House, who immediately invited all the usual suspects right back in. We didn’t even get a new Secretary of Defense after Bush left office—an apparent acknowledgment of that administration’s stunning military successes.

You have to hand it to America’s youth: for being one of the most-maligned demographics in human history, we have been exceedingly patient with the generation now approaching retirement—our parents, professors, employers, and legislators. These are the same folks who will be the first American generation ever to leave a less-prosperous country to their children.

If it seems like I’m conflating issues, I am. Students have a whole lot more to be angry about than a hefty increase in student fees, and they know it. They’re not stupid—they know that, in the world they are inheriting, their extremely expensive diplomas might be even more devalued than the Federal Reserve notes in their wallets. They know that their generation will apparently always have ample opportunities to serve as infantry soldiers or cubicle drones, but not as much opportunity to pursue good education or raise families in a peaceful, prosperous country. They know that ambition and hope are becoming rare commodities among their peer group—they are expected to subsidize Baby Boomer retirements with “new policies” such as heath-insurance mandates and never-ending fee and tuition increases, while their civic voices are consistently ignored.  

To paraphrase Billie Holiday, “God bless the children who can hold their own.” Thank you, college protesters. The March 5 footage was a sight for eyes swollen from reading articles after articles that now bring almost daily news of some fresh, outrageous breach of public trust. Whether it’s something as serious as war or healthcare, or as simple as Columbia’s holiday break schedule, it’s a good thing for people to get angry when they see injustice, but only if they put that anger to productive use. I hope to see more peaceful mass action soon, before it’s too late and the next protests are something far more serious. Let that fire burn, and clear that dead wood away.

The author is a student in the School of General Studies majoring in classical studies.