As you've probably read, The Spectrum has taken some potshots at UB Students Against Sweatshops in the past few issues. On some levels, the group is totally deserving of the jokes and criticism - it's easy to come off as self-righteous when you're on a crusade, and their flyers litter far too much ground for a group that splintered from the UB Environmental Network.
At the same time, the group is too easy a target for a lot of criticism. They put themselves out on a limb for things they believe in, which is a way more than what most of UB's apathetic student body can say. And it's hard to argue against their results - the group's protests might have attracted attention, but they were the impetus and fuel for UB joining a sweatshop monitoring group; influence no one could argue. Their latest cause was fighting for better wages and conditions for UB janitors, and while UB administration claimed their return to union janitors was based on the cleaners' quality of work, the additional attention UBSAS efforts drew to the cause most likely expedited the decision.
I don't mean to come off as a UBSAS apologist, because there are times that I find them just as annoying as anyone else. But I think that everyone at UB could use a little of the balls UBSAS shows when something pisses them off. It's not like there's a shortage of stuff we could be protesting. Here's a couple things UB students should care about, and probably protest:
1) Tuition hikes and financial aid: You know they're coming. There isn't much we can do to stop the hikes themselves, but the way they're being implemented is screwing over almost every student, making it harder for students in the lower half of middle class - which is a lot of us - to go to school. The proposal of regular hikes tied to an inflation index seems reasonable, but there is no provision that takes into account financial aid - according to almost every plan coming out of Albany, financial aid is expected to be cut significantly.
The problem is not that the poorest students won't get as much help as they need - they will, and they deserve it. It's that the plan reduces the partial help that so many more students rely on to help them pay for school. For the current school year, 8,376 students - over half of all UB students -- receive some sort of need-based financial aid, with 8,855 determined to have some sort of financial need. That means almost 500 students didn't get the aid they needed for some reason or another. Expect that difference to get even bigger if students don't take action now.
2) Student Health Center: Sure, UB is building a satellite student health center in the Ellicott complex, but that's a pretty poor compromise for a serious student life problem. For at least 25 years, North Campus has been the central location for all things UB - a majority of all academic departments are up there, the administration is based there and, of course, a stark majority of UB's campus population is there, and has been since the 1980s. So why hasn't the student health center moved there?
I would have less of a complaint if the clinic were based in the medical school, but it's not; it's located in one of the oldest buildings on either campus, in Michael Hall. It's pretty well hidden from sight too - most freshmen, who I'd bet are the most likely to need the center, don't know where it's located, and it would be a stretch to say it's easy to get to for most of the student population. This year, the SA e-board, notably Vice President Sonia Kang, made a big push for a health center and got something done, but the victory is hollow with such a limited office being built. Imagine what UB could have done if the entire student body were behind SA health center efforts - you'd probably be going to Alumni Arena not only to work out, but to check out that ankle you twisted jogging on the track.
In 1990, UB's Student Association staged a massive walk out of thousands of students to protest a parking fee, blocking buses and stopping traffic. Now, UB students are threatened with 30 percent tuition increases and students couldn't be bothered to read about it, let alone do something about it.
I don't think rampant protests and rallies would enact any real change - if you overdo it, you get tuned out. But in doing nothing, nothing gets done. It's great to fight for causes to look out for others, but what about taking care of ourselves? Massive protests by students and young people in France is making headway in preventing an unfair law that makes it easy to fire young people from work, but if that law were to be presented in America, we'd probably go back to playing Xbox after our bosses fired us for no good reason.
Start looking out for yourselves, UB, because if we don't, who else will?
