For the past several years, social critics as well as some members of higher education communities have been quick to label students as “coddled” or part of a “snowflake” generation. This narrative has come through increasingly heated debates about the direction or value of higher education. Many — such as Greg Lukianoff or Jonathan Haidt — specifically use this terminology to bemoan the declining status of academic freedom cum rigor due to “snowflakes” who are unable to face arguments, narratives, or people with which they do not agree.
But in March, and again on the anniversary of the Columbine shooting April 20, the whole world watched as American high school students from all different backgrounds joined with college-age allies to speak out against gun violence. The millions who gathered on Saturday, March 24, 2018 for the March for Our Lives rally, and the students who left classes for the National School Walkout, amplified the voices of other young people who were from underrepresented groups in one of the most intersectional movements the U.S. has ever seen. They amplify the voices of young persons of color in highlighting the effects of violence on black communities, Latino communities, and other underrepresented groups throughout the nation. As these young people stood up in front of crowds and cameras, one after the other, their strength and resilience snowballed into something palpable. Far from the typical depiction of today’s youths as hypersensitive and lacking grit, these students demonstrated that not only are they fearless in standing up to adults who refuse to protect them, but also that they are capable of wielding extraordinary political power as protesters and as future voters. These students aren’t snowflakes. They’re a looming blizzard.
Those who participated in the rallies — and coordinated, mass school walkouts under the #Enough campaign on March 14 — are echoing concerns that have been building for years in American schools and universities amidst some troubling trends. In addition to mass shootings in K-12 schools, firings, resignations, angry confrontations, and, recently, physical violence have become increasingly common on college and university campuses.
Few would deny that the climate of incivility in contemporary American higher education is affecting the pedagogical success of many colleges and universities. The media and academic administrators have been quick to identify debates around free speech, diversity, inclusion, trigger warnings, or “coddled” students as the problems. Frequently, they make such claims without offering evidence, making it tempting to label an entire generation as spoiled and self-centered.
As one of the first social scientists to study these conflicts with an adequate data sample, I have reached different conclusions. I have spent the last four years conducting ethnographic research on college campuses across the U.S. with students, faculty, and staff. I find that debates about free speech and academic freedom are a red herring that have distracted attention from substantive issues of access, curriculum, and climate. And, in fact, far from being the source of these conflicts, student protests today actually add to the fabric of the American collegiate experience, procure creative and authentic solutions to these problems, and define student life on campus.
The #Enough campaign, which is the social media movement tethered to the March for Our Lives, is connected to other social movements led by young people both inside the U.S. as well as around the world. In the U.S., #Enough came on the heels of the wildly successful spread of #MeToo ( ; ) which, of course, was connected to the growing success of #BlackLivesMatter and #NoDAPL.
These movements, powerfully deployed on social media, were often led by young people who experienced their struggles as inspired by and connected to movements outside the United States. For example, the youth-led Green Revolution in Iran, Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, Egyptian Revolution in Egypt, and anti-austerity Indignados Movement in Spain served as inspirations for Occupy Wall Street in the United States, where some of the organizers and allies of #BlackLivesMatter first became involved in community organizing and activism. Other connections can be drawn with U.S.-based student activists calling for the removal of Confederate statutes and other symbols of white supremacy in the United States who have often connected their struggles to that of the successful student-led #FeesMustFall and #RhodesMustFall campaigns in South Africa. And the Palestinian National Movements and Syrian civilians’ struggle against violence and oppression have inspired various movements in the United States, including the Women’s March, which has assisted in the coordination of the #Enough campaign.
The students organizing rallies for sensible gun control know that numbers matter. They’ve seen that who they align with matters, that media matters, that the way they fight matters. They have access to these powerful lessons based on the ways in which young people in Iran, Tunisia, Egypt, Spain, South Africa, Palestine, and Syria have spoken out against violence and oppression and demanded a better world to grow up in.
Young people around the world are asserting their right to organize, speak, and demand more of the system and more of their government. Often, in the United States, student protesters have been dismissed, silenced, and labeled as weak. But, as they have shown through #Enough, youth organizing is a powerful force that continues to snowball into positive change. Perhaps we will finally hear students’ calls for curricular, climate, and access change in our education system. Many of us in higher education hope that these young people will keep up the fight. As long as they do, they will achieve the changes they want. And if South Africa, Spain, and are any indicators, they will change our country too.
Pardis Mahdavi is the acting dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver.
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