A t Wednesday’s rally, “Speaking Back to the Wainstein Report,” doctoral student Charity Watkins stepped up to the podium during the public comment section and thanked the group responsible for the protest, The Real Silent Sam coalition. Watkins received her undergraduate degree from UNC in 2007. Students had never been so involved during her time as an undergraduate student, Watkins remarked.
Activism takes many forms and generally defies measurement. But by our assessment, for what it’s worth, student engagement at UNC this semester has been especially vigorous, visible and pointed. A host of thorny issues have presented themselves – caps on tuition-based aid, the athletic-academic scandal, sexual assault and coal divestment, to name a few. Students have, in limited numbers, risen to the occasion.
But in the cases of many of these topics, there is considerable overlap within the activist community in terms of leadership and visibility. Some of the students protesting sexual assault policy on the steps of Wilson Library on Wednesday turned around and marched up to South Building to catch the Wainstein rally. It is admirable that these students have engaged with so many aspects of University policy, but they alone should not feel burdened with being students’ most visible representation.
All students with an interest in the future of this university and the communities that exist around it should, as far as they are able, take active steps to embody and sustain the engagement Watkins praised on Wednesday.
