As the Occupy Wall Street demonstrations continue in New York City, a number of Princeton U. students have decided to witness the movement firsthand. Throughout last week, these students traveled to the city to take part in an experience that Amina Yamusah described as “motivating” and “emotional.”
Whether they were impassioned participants or curious observers, student attendees — most of whom first attended a General Assembly at Washington Square Park followed by the main march throughout New York City — expressed a common sense of awe at the demonstrations.
“It was amazing how many people showed up,” Randy Khalil remarked. “All of one side of Sixth Avenue was completely blocked out of traffic.”
Other students shared Khalil’s amazement at the size of the crowd.
“For me, it was amazing to be united with that quantity of people,” Emily VanderLinden said in an email.
But while the demonstrations drew an estimated 100,000 participants across the nation, the fervor of the demonstrations was not generally replicated in the interest level of Princeton students, the attendees noted.
Several factors might be causing this apathy, Polly Korbel said, including the busy schedule of the average Princeton student and the fact that “not all of the student body resonates with what it has been saying.” Meanwhile, Yamusah noted that certain issues at the demonstrations, such as student loans, are perhaps less relevant to Princeton students than students at other universities due to the University’s financial aid program. Embracing the movement, she said, sometimes requires a difficult self-examination.
“It’s hard to look at your own lifestyle and question: Are some of the things and privileges I have based on structural inequalities that exist in our society?” she said.
Meanwhile, Khalil contrasted the low involvement of students from the University with that of their peers at schools such as Columbia. Many Columbia students presented at the General Assembly, he said, noting that this may be a result of these students’ “history of community involvement.”
Columbia student Marlen Rosas remarked that the recent OWS student lockout was received enthusiastically on her campus.
“Three hundred or so people showed up,” Rosas said, explaining how students collectively left class at 3:30pm to attend the demonstrations on Oct. 5. She added that the lockout initiative encouraged one of her friends who had not shown much prior interest in OWS to attend the demonstrations. The event had presented an opportunity for him “to recognize that some things are not really just leftist” and “to look at both sides” of the issue, she said.
For student advocates of OWS at the University, similar events — though perhaps not on the same scale — may be an avenue for expanding student interest, some participants said.
“If someone knows that someone else is going to be going to New York then they’re more likely to go,” Korbel explained, adding that she managed to gather a group of “about 15 people” to attend the demonstrations following some “last minute” publicity efforts.
Likewise, some students who attended the demonstrations last week organized themselves through an OWS teach-in arranged by Edna Bonhomme GS. According to Korbel, about 20 to 25 people from across the University community gathered at the teach-in.
“It provided us a venue to organize and go as a group,” VanderLinden remarked. “Since many graduates go to work on Wall Street, I think we have a unique capacity as Princeton students to participate in this movement and seek change in an unjust system.”
Yamusah also noted that such efforts could yield profound results.
“A large portion of Princeton could get involved if people would do the work to get them involved,” she added.
But increased University student presence does not necessarily have to occur at rallies, Korbel said. Instead, she explained that it could occur “in a more academic setting,” such as a “discussion place” for students to become more educated about the demonstrations.
Regardless of the general lack of participation from University students, many of the undergraduates who did attend said that they had unforgettable experiences at the demonstration that should not be missed. The size of these crowds has become a point of contention, however, with supporters and critics alike questioning whether the diverse interests represented undermine or support the movement’s purpose.
Students expressed mixed opinions on the issue. Khalil said that he found the multitude of groups represented at the General Assembly to be both a strength and weakness of the movement, though ultimately he felt the movement was in need of “one voice that really unifies them all.”
Yamusah, however, noted that the variety of issues covered broadens the movement’s appeal. In this way, “many groups can attack little parts of the problem,” she said, which leads to “a more expansive change.” She added that the relations among these different issues have become clearer since her attendance at the rally.
“When you’re there, things make more sense,” she said. However, she added, the large number of issues represented at the event did lead to the question of whether the movement was adequately prioritizing certain issues.
Occupy Wall Street is a series of demonstrations based in New York City that began on Sept. 17, 2011.
The demonstrations have no central leader but were initiated by the Canadian-based Adbusters Media Foundation. Inspired by the revolutionary spirit of the Arab Spring, demonstrators generally seek to protest disparities in wealth, corporate greed and the influence of businesses in politics.
Since its inception, a number of similar “Occupy” movements have developed across various American cities and communities.