Back in the ancient days, the citizens of Athens developed a pretty cool idea: they decided to create a big open space in the middle of their city where folks could come from all around and chat. The Agora (that’s what they called it) could be a little weird – there was this one dude, Diogenes, who would walk around naked with a lamp calling people stupid – but the Athenians found that it was good for business. All that unstructured public discourse led to this whole flowering of literature and philosophy that has rarely been matched in the last three millennia. So why do we bring up the ancient Athenian republic? Well mostly to point out that public space is, generally speaking, a good thing: it fosters civil society, it strengthens democracy, and it makes life more interesting. And in a country increasingly made up of strip malls and Craigslist, college campuses are one of the last bastions of public life.
That’s why we were surprised by some students’ vehement reactions to the demonstration held inside Usdan last Thursday in order to raise campus awareness of the Open Shuhada Street campaign. As the article about the event in this issue of The Argus explains, nine University students temporarily blocked off access to the main stairway leading to the main dining hall, requesting that students use the elevator or alternate staircase in order to eat lunch. It wasn’t really that disruptive (using one of the other two routes to the Usdan cafeteria for just one day is not a big deal), but it was an admirable attempt to raise awareness of an issue that the vast majority of students on campus were unaware of.
While many students were reasonably respectful of the students’ demonstration, a vocal minority believed that the blockade was unnecessary and disruptive. We heard a lot of people grumbling about their right to access the dining hall. The first post on an Anonymous Confession Board thread concerning the demonstration declared, “I want to walk in and out of Usdan the way I always do. No one cares what you have to say…Don’t inconvenience my lunch.” Other responses to the thread were in a similar vein, with one commenter claiming that the event was an example of “activism theater” and another asking the student activists to “climb down from [their] ivory towers.”
Most students seem to think of Usdan as nothing more than a place to eat food, and so some were outraged by the demonstration mostly because it interrupted their daily routine. That’s an unfortunate attitude. Usdan is supposedly a campus center, a place where students can stage demonstrations and protests, gather to share opinions on important issues, and respect other students’ right to express their views. But if no one thinks of Usdan in this manner, then can this kind of activity occur?
Davenport (they call it Albritton these days) used to be one of the most frequented buildings on campus, and events would be held outside it; at MoCon, people would walk up to the balcony to make announcements to whoever was eating downstairs. But as of right now, Usdan has not inherited the functions of these past communal spaces, spaces that are clearly important to the vitality of campus life. So instead of immediately condemning protestors for temporarily blocking easy access to food, or complaining about architecture, let’s work harder to foster a lively community in the spaces we have.
Leave a Reply