The apathy that defines Irish students

Last year, the government of this country made a decision that angered a particular section of Irish society. These people were well organised: they took to the streets and forced the government into a monumentally embarrassing climb down.

As is well known, the above incident was in regard to medical cards for the over-70s. In another day and age however, the aforementioned section of society might well have referred to students.

As it happens, Irish students were in action around the same time. It was a time when most people regarded the re-introduction of third-level fees as a near-certainty.

Fees were not and will not be introduced. Not, however, as a result of students strong-arming the government into a position of submission. Rather, as a result of a needy Green Party fighting a rear guard action in their Revised Programme for government.

Had it not been for this, fees would be back – make no mistake. Whatever your position on third-level fees, it must be universally acknowledged that all student protests against them were, by and large, ineffectual.

Were the demonstrations at the time just too understated? Is it that students are seen as a bunch of privileged youngsters, just looking for a day out and a reason to challenge authority?

Steven Conlon, the former news features editor of this publication, recently wrote a guest entry on DCU president Ferdinand von Pronzynski’s blog about the death of the student movement. As he rightly pointed out, the naivety of the Union-led campaign was a major contributant to its failure, not least in terms of garnering media coverage.

Furthermore, the low voter turnout at SU elections is indicative of student political apathy in Ireland’s third level institutions as a whole. As Steve observed, DCU’s last election had a turnout of just 25 per cent. But this apathy does not exist just within the confines of the college campus.

After Ireland’s 2002 General Election, the CSO carried out a survey on voter participation. It found that 48 per cent of students did not vote, despite being eligible. By contrast, just 13 percent of retired people did not vote.

It’s easy to see why the government might fear the political cost of alienating the latter section of society over the former.

Compare the Irish student body’s public voice with that of students in California in recent times. Faced with a rise in university fees, Californian students are refusing to lie down without a real fight.

In the 23-day period leading up to Christmas, more than 220 Californian students were arrested. The scope of their protests ranged from street demonstrations to the occupation of several buildings.

Students at Berkeley, Davis and UCLA took over a number of campus buildings, barricading themselves in. They were demaning a repeal of the 32 per cent tuition hike for undergraduates, and a reversal of university budget cuts.

While the occupations have ended in California, the fight has not. Faculty members and other university workers have joined the students in their demonstrations. Just last week, 11 more people were arrested at an off-campus fundraising dance organised by student activists.

Education cuts in the UK are also meeting a steadily growing opposition. Universities are mobilising in protest to the government’s plan to cut the education budget by £950 million.

Announcements of academic redundancies in the near future at several top universities, including University College London, King’s College London, and Queen Mary University have caused uproar.

Hundreds of students and staff from a number of British universities marched to lobby outside parliament on January 26th. A number of petitions and letters, written and signed by both students and prominent academics, have been sent to department and university heads.

In a recent opinion piece in the Guardian, Mike Baker observed that universities do not command sufficient public support to ensure protection from financial cuts. He suggested that this is because universities are afraid to publicise the negative effects of cuts due to competition between one another.

Listen to the radio advertisements for a university, or flick through a prospectus. It’s difficult to reconcile the university portrayed therein with one that is deserving of further funding. The need to attract students to a particular campus overrides concern for the sector as a whole.

The ongoing student resistance in California and elsewhere understandably does not really feature in the Irish mainstream media. But the ramifications of what is happening have significance beyond the Golden State.

There are lessons to be learnt, for student unions and students themselves. Universities will need support beyond faculty and students if they are to survive cuts. They will need the public, those same people who rallied behind the elderly with a righteous and sympathetic anger over the medical cards.

It is up to students to decide whether they want to be patronised and ignored because of their conduct, or respected and listened to for it. Half-hearted protests and a student body that does not even bother to vote are unlikely to win us many favours. At the very least, the students of California have made the establishment sit up and take notice.

The influential scholar and historian Howard Zinn died recently – a great loss for academia and student activism. He was once a Professor of History at Spelman College where he helped the Student NonViolent Coordinating committee.

Zinn saw firsthand what student activism was capable of during the 1960s. He recognised, that when roused and organised, “a major social movement…led by youngsters” was capable of “shaking the nation to its bones”.

How long before the political awakening of Ireland’s students?