Multimedia Reporting (Kuhr-Musser)

Student activists are involved with fewer
angry protests these days, but not because
they don't care. David Linhardt explains
how student activism in the oil crisis has
evolved into a sharp, media-friendly affair.

KU Info returned last month, and KU Info’s fans can thank student activists for it. Justin La Mort, Cherryvale senior, trumpeted KU Info’s importance to students during its absence.

For students wondering how many trees are on KU’s Lawrence Campus, they can go to the new KU Info office in the Kansas Union. But until the middle of the spring semester, KU Info was a no-show. La Mort and other student activists helped restore the famous piece of KU’s student services. (There are about 17,000 trees on campus, by the way.)

Student activism today is a world away from the angry protests of the 1960s and 1970s, said Karl Brooks, assistant professor of history and environmental studies.

Brooks protested U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict during his years in high school, and by the time he reached college he turned to more conventional forms of politics.

Seeing how the media came to be gatekeepers in even local debate, Brooks saw that activism needed to evolve. For one demonstration, he dressed up as a salmon—sign in one hand, and fishing net in another—to demonstrate against actions Idaho’s governor was taking that Brooks felt would hurt Idaho’s salmon population.

The salmon suit had its desired effect: Brooks and his issue were the focus of photographers and TV news crews.

Students watch the "Oil Shockwave" panel demonstration at the PowerShift Conference in the Kansas Union. Panel participants simulated how a massive disruption in oil supply would threaten daily life in the U.S.
Photo by David Linhardt.

Brooks sees student activism today—especially KU student activism—as far more media-savvy than that of the past. More students angrily protested on college campuses during those years, but now they know how to grab TV and newspaper coverage.

“More students know what’s going on in the world, though fewer of them may understand the political process itself,” Brooks said.

La Mort agrees, and attributes his success to simply knowing how to handle the press.

“Using the media and controlling the terms of the argument are essential,” La Mort said. “Mobilization is fundamental to give incentive to legislators if they want to keep their jobs while at the same time providing them political capital as cover from the lobbyists.”

La Mort is president of KU’s ACLU chapter. He fought unsuccessfully last month for the Lawrence City Commission to alter a noise ordinance that local privacy activists found intrusive and unfair. La Mort joined with the Delta Force coalition from Student Senate and marched on City Hall on the eve of their consideration of the change.

Despite the commission’s refusal to make changes to the law, La Mort sees a chance for student activists to push for a change once more in about six months.

“It depends on what you count as success,” La Mort said. “Front page two days in a row on campus and [the Lawrence Journal-World] plus some press in the Washington Post and Drudge was a surprise.”

Ethan Nuss, Salina senior, helped organize the PowerShift energy security conference at the Kansas Union on April 29. The conference was sponsored by 20/20 Vision, a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing oil dependency.

Alongside Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kansas) and Tom Collina, 20/20 Vision executive director, Nuss urged a Woodruff Auditorium audience of more than 240 to wean themselves from addiction to foreign oil.

Student activist Ethan Nuss explains how
students can impact today's high gas prices.

Nuss saw students’ lack of big lobbyist power as a benefit.

“The beautiful thing, the advantage we have as students, is that we don’t have the money,” Nuss said. “The biggest resources we have are passion and people. If we can organize around that passion, then we can mobilize for change.”

Nuss wants to continue his work with 20/20 Vision next year by taking the fight to reduce oil consumption to Topeka. Like the grassroots organization that pushed the Kansas Legislature to pass the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, the movement to reduce foreign oil dependence could have similar staying power as gas prices stay near $3 a gallon.

Student activists today aren’t very similar to those of the past. Gone are angry and potentially violent demonstrations. Instead, students use media-friendly, camera-ready events and careful soundbites to maneuver an issue they feel passionately about.

“As with most things, realizing there is a problem is the first step to fixing it,” La Mort said. “The change I’ve seen is that people are talking and repeating the points we’ve been hammering.”

For more information:

Resources and guides for student activists
A brief history of student activism around the world
KU ACLU's key issues for student activism