...to class?

In the sixties, Americans had some good reasons to protest the establishment. Our nation was involved in a war that many felt was neither our business or possible to win.  The military engaged in a questionable drafting system, Richard Nixon had Watergate, JFK was shot and LBJ was loathed by many for continuing the above mentioned war. Nowadays it would almost seem we have a bit of history repeating itself. Many Americans feel they were misled into supporting our current war in Iraq and are angrily counting the days since our fearless leader declared "Mission Accomplished!"

With our country still at war in Iraq, the stock market plummeting, issues (gun control, abortion, education, etc.) that we can't agree on, what do you think the Miami University student body would gather around to protest on a Monday night? HAVING TO GO TO CLASS!!?? Oh dear God!!! NO!!!

That's right, the "misery" Miamians have had to endure because of Ike continues. My last post was about the power outage and that very same power outage continued through last night. Despite the power being out, many received a text message from the university around 5pm or so stating that classes would resume the next day and that more details were online. Alright, I'll admit that I thought that the "more details online" comment was ridiculous considering everyone's internet was out, but what ensued was pretty freakin' preposterous.

Later on that night, rumors of a protest were going around campus. Apparently a large number of people began protesting outside of our university President's home. It should be noted, though, that he wasn't even there.

At first I had no idea what the students could possibly be protesting. Did they really think that President Hodge reached up into the Heavens and with the hammer of Thor created a wind storm that would destroy just enough power lines to cause an outage? Did students really think he was off playing Xbox360 while talking to friends online and downloading music while everybody else had to go without power for a couple of days? Filled with curiosity, I decided to go check out the protest... yikes...

The streets in front of the President's house were filled with every cop in Oxford. The sidewalks were in turn filled with thousands of students, covering each side of the street, yelling back and forth. Chants of "No Power! No Class!" made it clear what the students were protesting; having to go to class with no power. Granted that a majority of those at the protest were probably just seeing what the Hell was going on, there was still probably a certain number of students that were chanting with a serious conviction to cancel class for a second day straight. Of course I support anyone's right to free speech, assemble and protest, but c'mon!

In the sixties (yes, I'm finally trying to connect it all together) students had a great number of reasons to protest the establishment and we still do today. But does "having to go to class" really equate with "unjustified war" these days? I'll go ahead and venture a guess that the students that were seriously trying to get class canceled again today are the ones that have mommy and daddy pay for tuition and could care less that by not going to class, they are essentially throwing money out the window. I'll also assume that they don't realize how many students in different countries do not have the blessing of electricity in the classroom. Call me crazy, but I think we can all go without power point presentations, online class notes and actually read the textbooks instead. The same goes for teachers that probably shat themselves over the mere notion of having to talk to their students instead of just blindly pointing at their slide shows. (Gosh I hate it when they put in that random, completed unrelated slide of their kids or dog. Nobody cares!) Good Lord, it makes me wonder how Texans feel about the validity of our little protest.

Besides the unbelievable stupidity of the event that took place last night, I will admit that it was a pretty hilarious experience. People climbing trees, cops laughing at students while arresting them, and rolls of toilet paper flying across the street were worth the trip over to President Hodge's place. Faculty should spend the next couple of days figuring out a way to point these students to an issue that actually matters.

Note to reader: Still failing miserably to find the camera since we've gotten power back.  In the meantime, check out the facebook group commemorating the blackout.  There are pictures and videos galore!