Pre-Occupied?

Students at Ithaca College and 92 other colleges and universities walked out of classes October 5 and 13 in support of the Occupy movement and to protest a miserable job market, mounting student loan debt, and growing wealth disparity in the U.S. The Occupy movement began in September with the mass gathering of those who believe they are a part of what they call the "99%," the majority of citizens on the losing end of the economy. The term refers to growing income disparity—the division between the ultra wealthy and everyone else—in the nation.

"Um, to be honest I don't think anyone knew about the walkout day," said Allen (AJ) Heintz, Student Government Association president. Heintz had not heard about the walkout because he regularly receives his news from social media websites. "I don't think students watch the news enough and didn't see. If it wasn't on Facebook or Twitter, then it doesn't matter. I follow other students, the school and faculty. If it wasn't on there, how would I know about it," he said.

Peter Falvey, a sophomore communications major, had a renewed sense of excitement about politics with the start of the Occupy movement. "I had to go off campus to see any political movements because it seems that there are no politics on campus. Occupy Philly was where I went to see political action. In less than two weeks, the population there has dropped by at least a quarter. Any political movement is better than no action at all. At least they are trying to make change," Falvey said.

Heintz, a senior, is using his time as SGA president to address specific campus problems. "We focus on things like, that are internal on campus and really affect students. Student loans are external," Heintz said. He feels students must deal with parking and construction issues before they can work on anything outside of the campus community.

"We need to get all our eggs in a basket here before we can even go and branch out and do other things, not just community-service wise. We are all for going out and helping the community, but we need to get our ducks in a row," said Heintz.

Sophomore PT major Megan Lage said she is concerned with more than housing and parking. She is tormented by her ever-growing student debt. "I think about my loans and how I will pay them back every day. It is my biggest worry, concern and stress," Lage said. She feels that all students should have some interest in politics because politicians are making decisions that will affect almost every college student nationwide.

Sophomores Alina Busch and Adrian Whitmoyer agree that students need to be concerned with political matters, but they say staying in the know is increasingly difficult, especially when others at the university are not making an organized effort. "I would like to be informed, but there is no opportunity to be aware on campus. I don't feel like the school is doing anything right now to create awareness. There are probably programs that they could have or even just an information table in Banks," said Whitmoyer.

One source is Peer Advocates who answered the need by holding a voter registration drive during the week of November 7. They provided information about the voter registration process and distributed Pennsylvania voter registration cards. Still, Busch and Whitmoyer point to the SGA as the only politically-oriented organization on campus.

"While we are student government in name we don't have a political party. I don't ask the cabinet members what political party they are because I believe that what your party is has no effect on how you will work for us. We are more here to serve the students as a whole and not in political nature," Heintz said.

Kings College student government officers take a very different approach. President Giancarlo Dilonardo believes students need to have a voice about national issues--and have that voice heard.

"This year especially bigger issues than the day-to-day have been approached, like our core curriculum and the tuition and rising debt. We have taken a step in the right direction instilling a confidence in our students that there are bigger issues than the library not being open late enough or bad parking," said Dilonardo.

Dilonardo took students' concerns about college debt directly to the president. "I have had several conversations with Father Jack Ryan, every two weeks, about the costs of college and if it is really worth it, and those conversations will continue," said Dilonardo.

Heintz meets with President MacDowell and vice president of student affairs Sister Jean Messaros once per month. "We discuss what is going on here, student life. We are trying to make it better. It's been growing and getting better over the years but it's not at the level of big colleges. They want us to have a big college feel while being a small college," Heintz said.