The University of Idaho Argonaut

The students of Washington State University are mad about the fact they are going to have tuition increases next year. They are so mad they staged a good old-fashioned walkout to express their feelings about the situation.

It was a walkout, that is for sure, but it was one of farcical proportions. The ones of students loitering outside the main drag of the WSU campus made it seem as if this was a social gathering and not a protest.

Students holding signs while posing for what will surely become Facebook profile pictures only conveyed a message of immaturity and not one of activism. At least the students at the rally could be bothered to show up.

In fairness, I only have one class at WSU and am on the campus for two hours, but the general feeling around the school was one of apathy. It felt like the majority of students were already resigned to paying increased tuition and the protesters were a minority either too stubborn or stupid to realize the inevitable nature of the situation.

Students at WSU have every right to be ticked off, as it seems the school’s finances have been handled by Michael Scott, six zebras and an infant. It is going to take more than a handful of students holding confusing signs to get it changed.

The real problem is that using the protest as a vehicle of change is no longer viable. It was perfect in the 1960s when students were not afraid to stand up and fight in their beliefs regardless of the likelihood of victory.

Students in that time period were fearless and acted as a collective, fighting for the greater good — they have been replaced by the pessimistic individual that personifies most present college students.

The sentiment of most of my peers seems to be: Why fight the fight if you know you are going to lose?

The answer, of course, is you fight to stand up for something you believe in. History is nothing but examples of people taking a stand. Some have gone well, others have not, but there was always willingness to fight for something they believed in.

In reality, one has few chances to be able to take a stand. The meager number of students who did participate at least had the courage to fight for their ideals. It will be a moment they can remember forever, even when tuition is increased next fall.

The countless students who opted to participate in the walkout by sleeping in and playing Xbox all day will have a memory that will probably be forgotten by the time they realize how much they are paying for school next semester.

WSU students had a chance to fight the good fight last week but failed. Those who protested should be commended for their pride. They were undermined by those students who skipped class and did not participate in the rally. Then again, everything at WSU is in shambles, so why would the student protests be any different?

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