from the Aaron Edwards
Editor in Chief, The Ithacan
H
ere’s the thing. I am not an activist. The closest I’ve come to protesting or participating in any form of civil disobedience in college was when I was a freshman going through the Grab and Go line in Campus Center Dining Hall. Blondeva, arguably one of the college community’s favorite and most recognizable dining hall employees, was waving goodbye to me as I headed to the drink refrigerator close to the exit. Suddenly, she stopped me in my tracks. “You can’t leave here with more than one drink, hunny.” I was caught red-handed with a Pepsi and a Fanta Grape. But this wasn’t fair, I thought. I pay thousands of dollars to go to this school, and I can’t even get an extra sugary beverage? I stated my case to Blondeva as she stared at me with matter-of-fact disappointment. I was also holding up the line. I was embarrassed. This was a very ineffective protest. After a few moments, she gave in. “Go on. Just this once.” Justice won that day. Well, it’s not really justice since I sort of stole from Grab and Go and just got my way, but there’s a bigger point here, I promise. Stay with me, now. You’d think that this young generation of students — the kids who grew up in a post-9/11 society where restrictions and governmental control inundate their everyday lives — would sit back and not do much about their situation. But more and more we’re finding ways
to fight the good fight. We’re always casting a lens on the ’60s and comparing ourselves to what many see as a Golden Age of public displays of contention. Who was more effective? Are we really more active than the flower children, radicals and pacifists who filled city streets to combat the conniving works of embattled politicians, the tumultuous repercussions of the Vietnam War and the crippling blow of racism in American society? How can we possibly stack up to that? But that was then. And this is now. As journalists covering the campus, we here at The Ithacan have been casting an extensive look at how Ithaca College has ebbed and flowed with national issues. And this book is a culmination of a lot of those efforts. You’ll read stories about the “season of protest” on this campus — when it seemed like everyone wanted to make a change, even in the smallest way. From IC 20/20, the college’s 10-year strategic vision, to student debt and Trayvon Martin, we all wanted to have a say. It could be Pepsi and a Fanta Grape, or it could be economic reform and social justice. No cause is too small for our generation to take a stand on.