Brown students are known for being hippies and rebels without a cause. Yet being here has made me realize that we get that reputation because we are trying to fight for the greater good of society. We start small and at a local level because that is all we can do at the moment.
In the wake of President Paxson and the board’s decision not to divest from coal, student are disappointed and, honestly, a little angry. The reasoning behind this decision doesn’t seem nearly as grand as actually divesting from these companies would have been. Yet, this isn’t the only wrong that Brown students are trying to fight. The Taubman Center is bringing Ray Kelly, of the NYPD. His use of “stop and frisk” tactics has led to racial profiling as it mainly targets African American and Hispanic males. Outraged by the center’s decision to bring Kelly as an informative talk, rather than a debate, students are once again organizing to try to change this or cancel the talk all together.
I see where we get our fame. We are always organizing rallies. Yet, I’ve never heard of a cause that’s undeserving. We are not rebels without a cause because we stand by our beliefs and chose to act when we disagree with what is going on. I have no doubt that students come out of their experience at Brown with a greater idea of who they are and what they stand for. More than that, I am sure that everyone who is becoming involved in these causes is going to make a difference somewhere and somehow. We are being taught how to speak for those who can’t and how to stand up for what we believe in.