Abstract and Bibliography

Abstract

Protest has been the tool of choice for the powerless for centuries. People have always disagreed with government type oppositions and through numbers, they are able to put up a fight. But what happens when the amount of people a demonstration has plays no factor on the outcome? What if the battle being fought cannot be won? A protest does not guarantee results and it is not definite that protesters will get what they are fighting for. This seems to be the case with the past and present protests on rising tuition costs. State Universities and State Governments are constantly shutting down students and making it more difficult for student protesters to achieve their goal of lower tuition costs. One can argue that this would discourage students from even trying to change the system, but students are still pushing forward.
Through this research, the present day protests on tuition rates as well as those of the past, are analyzed to see if there is anything obtained through protest. There is no certainty with respect to the outcome of a protest. Students are fighting for what they believe in, but that doesn't mean that they will get what they are asking for. Through the act of protest, students learn key characteristics that will be beneficial to them later on in life. These characteristics are awareness, leadership, determination and organization. These four attributes are all taken from participating in protest and it is there where students are learning to become well rounded individuals. The experience creates intellectuals out of ordinary college students and teaches them to look at issues through all angles. So, if students are ultimately unsuccessful in achieving their primary goal through protest (lower tuition rates), they are still the ones who come out on top. The skills that are obtained through their actions will be beneficial to them as they carry on with their lives. The experience itself causes the students to be the overall winners of the process known as protest.

Bibliography

Altbach, Philip G., and Robert Cohen. "American Student Activism: The Post-Sixties
Transformation." The Journal of Higher Education 61.1 (1990): 32-49. Print.

Friend, Tad. “Protest Studies.” The New Yorker (January 4, 2010) 22-28. Print.
Gilmore, Janet. "UC Berkeley Protests: Tuition Hikes." E-mail interview. 31 Mar. 2010. Print.

Hanley, Robert. "Rutgers Students' Sit-In Turns Mellow." The New York Times 11 May 1990.Print.

Kaplan, Howard B., and Xiaoru Liu. "Social Protest and Self-Enhancement: A Conditional Relationship." Sociological Forum 15.4 (2000): 595-616. Print.

Lipsky, Michael. "Protest as a Political Resource." The American Political Science Review62.4 (1968) 1144-58. Print.

McCormick, Richard L. "Athletics and Rutgers Stadium." Letter to Rutgers Community. 12 Dec. 2008. Web.

Schussman, Alan, and Sarah A Soule. "Process and Protest: Accounting for Individual Protest Participation." Social Forces. N.p.: University of North Carolina Press , 2005. 1083-1108. JSTOR. Web. 11 Apr. 2010. Print.

Statehouse Bureau Staff. "N.J. Gov. Chris Christie's Spending Cut Plan Key Points | - NJ.com." New Jersey Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - NJ.com. 11 Feb. 2010. Web.

Rhoads, Robert A. "Student Protest and Multicultural Reform: Making Sense of Campus Unrest in the 1990s." The Journal of Higher Education 69.6 (1998): 621-46. Print.

Wollan, Malia. "Students Protest Tuition Increase." The New York Times 20 Nov. 2009. Print.

Story #14

At the beginning my topic was very broad. I wanted to cover college protest as a whole, but did not realize how much research that actually entailed. I felt as if i was capable of doing so, but found out soon on that it would be almost impossible to write a research paper that covered every college protest with no direction. So i narrowed down my options with the second paper. I compared random college protests from the past to the present ones. I felt fine with this direction, but then at a certain point realized it was not the direction i wanted to go in. With a little more research on the topic i found that i wanted to follow tuition costs and the reaction students had to them. I took a protest that happened at Rutgers university on rising tuition costs and compared it to the most recent ones in California. I compared the way the students went about it and the politics that surrounded the issue. I feel like this will be my final direction because it definitely drives my curiosity and it is a very common issue among college students.

My biggest influence for this paper has been the protests at UC Berkeley in California. There was so much media surrounding it that it would have been wrong not to go along with that topic. This also helped me with learning about the research process. You need to use everything at your disposal to make your point and support your thesis. I have not yet come up with a concrete thesis but, as is the research, it is a working progress. I feel with every draft that i compose, i come closer and closer to a more concrete topic.

Visual- Loree Hall

This is a writing done in chalk outside of Loree Hall. If this is not a sign of what is to come then i don't know what is. This is a sign that students at Rutgers University are not going to take these budget cuts lightly. We are going to see protest on campus very soon that can arguably be compared to that of UC Berkeley. Tuition prices are set to rise because of the lack of funding from the state. So, students are getting ready to assemble at Brower hall on College Avenue on April 21st. This could be the start of a revolt larger than anything Rutgers University has seen in the past.

Outline

I. Introduction
A. College and its purpose
B. The relationship the state has with state colleges.
C. Students protest high tuition rates
D. State Budget Cuts
E. Introduction of Authors

II. Rutgers Protest 1992
A. Students protest
1. What they did.
2. Who they were protesting against.
B. Why the students protested.
1. State budget cuts
2. Raising tuition costs
C. Success of the protest
1. Did the students succeed
2. What was achieved from the protest

III. UC Berkeley Protests 2009-present
A. Students protest
1. What they did
2. Who they are protesting against
B. Why the students are protesting
1. State budget cuts
2. Tuition increase
C. Progress of the protest
1. Progress that the students are making
2. Current status of the protest

IV. Comparison of the two protests
A. Similarities between the protests
1. Similar techniques that were used
2. Similar topic
B. Differences between the protests
1. Differences in demeanor of the protesters
a. Aggressive v.s. Non Aggressive
2. Differences in techniques

V. Present financial situation and Conclusion
A. State cuts on state universities
B. What this means for state schools across the country
C. The possibility of countrywide protest
D. The affect that budget cuts will have on present day Rutgers
E. How Rutgers students will react

The Case

The case in this research will be all the schools that have been protesting over an increase in tuition costs, primarily UC Berkley. With that I would like to see how often this type of protest happens with this university. Tuition is constantly an issue and with the times the way they are, it will not get any better. This is the student’s point of view which was mentioned in my previous post. I will be analyzing the way students see tuition increases and how they react to it. Many students have made it clear the way they feel about their tuition rising. The question that comes into play here is: Is education worth the investment? With tuitions rising, higher education becomes questioned. A majority of my research deals with the most recent protests at UC Berkeley. It incorporates the reasons and the different ways students have decided to take a stand.

The Debate

The debate here that I have identified is the constant battle that universities face every day; affordability. State schools are losing money from governments on a daily basis which raises student concern. From the loss of money, schools have no other choice but to look at privatizing their "industry". This can be looked at in two different ways. The first being that the school is doing this to save itself from going under; "desperate times call for desperate measures". The second way to look at this would be the way that students perceive this action. The mere action of privatizing a school will lead to higher tuition costs. This is what students see when they hear that their state funded university is looking for outside contributors. When these views come together, the outcome is protest. This has been going on for many years across the country in almost every single state university. Students are paying more money every year for their "state funded education". But, if state governments keep cutting funds, how will schools stay afloat? Can people blame state schools for trying to privatize? This is the debate I’d like to address and how this battle between the institution known as college and its students, has evolved over time.

Post 8

My biggest problem is finding sources that have a lot to do with my topic. I have about 3 solid scholarly sources that will really help me in writing my paper but it seems that many of the other sources i have come across, will only contribute a little bit. I would like to find some more well rounded sources. That is basically my main problem. I feel that i have most of the other things under control.

Conversation with sources

While i was rereading my paper i realized that my topic was still a bit everywhere. I wanted to tie in real world protest and college protest, but after reviewing my sources i have found that most of them are not really supportive of my research topic. I have rearranged my list of sources and now i feel that i can go on with my topic but in a new way. I want to tie in activism and protest here on the rutgers campus. I'm not sure exactly how i am going to do this, but i definately want to incorporate our campuses protest history with possibly what causes the actual protests. Do the outside factors such as war and politics have a large affect on the act of protesting on campuses? What has triggered past protests here on campus? How has that changed over time?

Annotated Bib

Altbach, Philip G., and Robert Cohen. "American Student Activism: The Post-Sixties

Transformation." The Journal of Higher Education 61.1 (1990): 32-49. Print. The authors
research the way of 1960’s protest and analyze the things that happened. From there

they connect issues such as the Vietnam war and student sit ins to the issues of the

1980’s onwards. They compare tactics from the 1960’s to those of the 1980’s and point

out the major changes such as people being more active in the present day. Altbach

and Cohen also pay very close attention to the reasons why the activism never died.

Scott, Joseph W. and El-Assal, Mohamed “Multiversity, University Size, University Quality and

Student Protest: An Empirical Study” American Sociological Review 34.5 (1969): 702-

709. Print. Scott and El-Assal go into the university and break it down piece by piece. In

this entry, the authors talk about how the size of the university determines whether

there will be a protest. Many different voices and mindsets can lead to protest because

of all the different opinions that exist. Culture also plays a big part in the determination

process. The more diverse a school is the more likely it is to find a conflicting opinion.

Culture might play a bigger factor than size in that aspect.

Blog 6 Questions on Protest

What causes people in a society to revolt in the way of protesting? Is it the same basis for student protest? What are the connections between protest outside of college campuses and protests on college campuses? Are there any similarities?

5 Scholarly Sources

Altbach, Philip G., and Robert Cohen. "American Student Activism: The Post-Sixties Transformation." The Journal of Higher Education 61.1 (1990): 32-49. Print.

COLUMBIA LAW STUDENT. "A STUDENT'S PROTEST :AGAINST THE PROPOSED CHANGES IN THE COLUMBIA LAW SCHOOL.. " New York Times (1857-1922) 31 Mar. 1891,ProQuest Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2006), ProQuest. Web.

Ellen Hoffman Washington Post Staff Writer. "A New Look in Campus Rules :Colleges Take
Note of Drugs, Alcohol and Student Protest. " The Washington Post, Times Herald
(1959-1973) 26 Sep. 1968,ProQuest Historical Newspapers The Washington Post
(1877 - 1993), ProQuest. Web.

Lipsky, Michael. "Protest as a Political Resource." The American Political Science Review
62.4 (1968): 1144-58. Print.

Rhoads, Robert A. "Student Protest and Multicultural Reform: Making Sense of Campus
Unrest in the 1990s." The Journal of Higher Education 69.6 (1998): 621-46. Print.

Rutgers RIOT

I felt that the tutorial was quite helpful, but that same information was given at our library session. Regardless, the information that was given in the tutorial would be very helpful to someone who did not attend an extensive research session. The RIOT program gives students a beneficial advantage to researching their topic and it also provides information without leaving the comfort of your home. I don't see anything wrong with the RIOT program and i feel that it could only help students reach their fullest research potential.

Library Questions

The questions that i think would be beneficial for my final research paper are:

1. Where would i be able to find accounts of different student protests from the past 40 years?

2. What would be a good way to go about this research topic? Where would i be able to find the most information?

3. Where could i find different accounts of student activism, aside from protests, in state schools from the past 40 years?

Activism and College Life

In my last entry i spoke about the affect of the undergraduate voice and the power that a college student possesses. This seems to me like a solid topic to start on. I would like to take it a step further though. After reading a chapter out of Michael Moffatt's "Coming of Age in New Jersey", i became very interested in the lives students live behind closed doors. I feel that this particular life style molds a student and plays a very important part in the way he/she gets involved in student activism. I researched the topic of student activism as well as college life. I ended up with more information on student activism and not as much on college life. The college life information that i received was not in the direction that i would have liked. A standard Google search provided me with great information on student activism. It brought up information about recent protests at Berkley in California, the 1960's protest at Berkley and information on the power of student activism. The two best links i found for this topic were http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/may2008/id20080530_606257.htm
and http://studentactivism.net/2009/12/18/berkeley-responds/ . These links describe the power of activism and situations were student activism played an important role.
Controversy plays a big role with student activism. There are always two sides to this. For example, in the Berkley situation, you had the students and then you had the administration. Both parties believe in two different things, but they both believe they are right. This is what sparks controversy.

From here i need to narrow down my topic a little bit more and see how i can incorporate student living and lifestyle. I need to find more information on student living and how it can affect their level of activism.

Undergrad Voices

The reason that i registered for this class was to fulfill my writing requirement. I didn't know what to expect from a class that was soley entitled "College!". It seemed strange to me at first, but after thinking about it for a while i figured it'd be about college life in general. My questions about this class were answered after the first day. We discussed the impact of a young community at Berkley in California and what college brings to the mainstream world. When I say "mainstream world" I mean the frontlines with respect to politics, world events and the mainstream media of course. College students play a very important part in the mainstream world. Young people are the voice of that particular generation, and that generation of the present will produce the leaders of the future. This is why it is very important to listen to these voices and pay attention to the different things that college students do. I'm not sure on what my concrete research topic will be, but I feel very strong about college student activity and the role that young people play in our mainstream world. I think that students hold more power than they know and that power has a lot of potential. It can change the world in drastic ways and it is only a matter of time before a situation like the one at Berkley comes to our University at Rutgers. The students here are very active in politics and community affairs. Rutgers' students are a different breed in a way. I feel like they are persistent in pursuing what they think is right. They can be a annoying at times, but they are only fighting for what they believe in. Persistence is what separates us from most schools and this is why i feel we will see another Berkley situation here on the shores of the Raritan.