The Colby Echo

Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: Opinions

Media Credit: Caroline Dickson

It's always tough to think about an entire school year and try to pick only a few things that stick out as important or memorable. This year has been so full of campus-wide events and occurrences that's it's tough to focus on just one thing. We've had everything from the very troubling to the very refreshing, from the tremendously serious to the downright entertaining. Perhaps, then, I should focus on the positive events that have been caused by some of the very troubling ones.

Granted, it is very difficult to say something positive has come out of something negative, but when I look back at the number of times I found myself among a group of students holding poster board signs and protesting over the course of the past school year, I cannot help but have a fresh outlook on the future. It could be that I have been hiding under a rock for two years here at Colby, but I feel as though students on this campus organized around a specific cause more often than before this year. Here are the moments that stick out in my mind.

Last fall, after a series of very disturbing attacks here on campus, I joined a group of students outside of Eustis in order to demand action from the administration. There was a general attitude around campus that the administration was not taking these attacks as seriously as it should have been, so a few students gathered outside of Eustis to grab its attention. It was only a few students, but with the arrival of the news media, we might as well have been the entire student body standing outside that building. We did end up meeting with some members of the Security team and the administrative staff and had a very good conversation about how we could make students feel safe on this campus, no matter where they are. The group of students was small, but there's no question that they had an impact on the situation.

One event that I was not able to attend was the peace march that occurred a few weeks ago, when a group of community members and students marched over to the Army recruitment center to protest the war in Iraq. The peace march was met by a limo full of people ready to protest against the march. News of this counter-protest caused me a great deal of aggravation, but it is good to know that organized protests are still considered a threat in this country. The Army recruitment center was responsible for the counter-protest, so I am told, which means they considered this peace march a serious matter. The marchers were a threat, something that could make a difference no matter how small the difference might be.

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