Back in the 1970’s Hamilton students held a sit-in protest outside the chapel to protest the Vietnam War. When campus officials tried to break up the protest, they were met with shouts and snowballs. While I do not advocate for violence against Campus Safety, there is something inherently appealing about that militant, anti-establishment, black-beret-wearing protest attitude that seems so intangible in the present day, when swimming in the KTSA pond can earn you a stout six points.

So what happened to those aggressive political demonstrations? Where students camped out for days and skipped class just to send a message, directed not at anyone in particular, just at the “man” in general. I do not want to fetishize the political upheaval of the Vietnam war era or ask for this campus to rise up in arms. After all, a large number of students work on political campaigns during both the school year and the summer, and many more are politically active on social media. However, the spirit of protest is notably absent on this campus, and whatever fledgling movements emerge have difficulty garnering large support. There are exceptions to this, like the march into Clinton after election day in 2016 and the march across campus to petition the administration to allow facilities management to unionize this past semester. Protests here are few and far between, although the reasons for this may not stem from apathy.

Being in the middle of rural New York, there is little in the way of a prominent stage on which protestors can voice their concerns. Moreover, as a predominantly liberal campus, this place can often feel like an echo chamber. As such, political activity takes the form of activism rather than protest and is often less visible than the seventies camp-outs that capture my imagination. The lack of a mass public outlet for political grievances makes the campus seem less politically active than it is. That being said, the idea of throwing some snowballs and living in a tent sounds really cool, so if you want to join in email [email protected], I frankly do not care about the cause. I just want an excuse to be loud.

Sincerely,

Peter Case ’21

Editorial Editor