Dangers of Misrepresentation
I had met up with a few friends in Bruno’s to grab some lunch when a student in a “Pennsylvania Student Power Network” shirt asked me, “Hey do you want free college?”
“Of course I do.” I replied.
“Great!” He said, “Sign this thing for us and I’m going to take your picture for our page.”
At this point I began to ask him about the purpose of their campaign. He mentioned the fact that he was an international student who would be going into the world with over forty thousand dollars of debt. In my case however my situation is a bit different than his. While I understand his plight, in my case, I will not be leaving college with that much debt due to my persistent search for scholarships and grants I received through the state. I asked him how his group planned on paying for this to which he said, “We have over 1400 members who are ready to rally and ask for legislation from our representatives to give us this, and we need to be heard.”
While I’m all for peaceful protest and organization of groups I can’t idly stand by and listen to someone who is rallying blindly for support when they have no plan.
When I asked again about their plan the student said, “Well, we don’t know how exactly the college will be payed for, but we have a lot of people that want it and we’re going to talk to our representatives.”
I understand that this group is a sort of “sister” organization to the college Democrats club within Behrend’s campus. As a Democrat myself, I feel that this type of rallying leads to the idea that Democrats are begging, uber-liberal, and only asking for handouts. If my first impression was this student I would agree. However, that’s not what Democrats are about. As a group we push for change in legislation through research and practice, and those who know what they’re talking about avoid using opinion to fuel their ideas and reasoning for change.
The student didn’t have to have a full detailed, played out plan, rather I could have done with a simple idea that could be built upon. Some ideas I quickly thought of include: We will tax capital gains more for the wealthiest Americans, we will rally for a cut in the defense budget, we’ll set up programs for students in the most poverty-stricken regions of America to further their dreams of education, etc. Something that can be built upon and open for debate. If you have no plan as a group why would you take the time out of your day to ask for support of students who have no idea what they’re getting into? A recent post on this groups Facebook page mentioned training for students saying:
Together, we’ll cover a range of critical topics — how to lead a campaign on campus, the statewide fight to make PA colleges tuition-free, issues of oppression and racial justice at IUP, and more. (https://www.facebook.com/pastudentpower/October 4th 1:07 pm)
While I support the ideas that this group represents, without proper practice of how to achieve their goals I believe their point is moot.
As an organization you must easily be able to train your members and staff to be able to represent the company. One member who does not have the correct training or drive can misrepresent and make the company look bad.
This group also mentioned that they would like me to attend an event in November where a forum style debate will be held to talk about the topic of legislation and free college. I can say that I will certainly be there and bring up these ideas I’ve written as well, and I implore that other students do the same.
If you are a college democrat, or even an active member in the political community you will understand how organizations that misrepresent the majority lead to incredible disparities between our groups. We have to work together to ensure that our ideals and debates are lead by true planning, factual evidence, and proper organization of our organizations members.