Student activism takes many forms at Rio Hondo College. Activism can be done digitally, financially and in person. Amber Rodriguez states “When students are out here giving petitions, they hand out flyers we mostly only see that type of activism like in the beginning of the semester I never really personally see like a student well there was the activism when they were handing out the little red cards for the immigration…definitely feel like we need a little more activism on campus”
Students are lacking activism at RHC, it is very important to voice concerns or bring awareness to changing policies as they affect the students the most. Rodriguez believes that one of the main “obstacle that we face is that we do not get a lot of funding”. Although we are in community college most of the materials are provided by the students but there is also a question of where our money is going. In several classes we rely on the school to provide certain materials or hand on training and we don’t seem to have enough for the entire class to benefit from these lessons and experiences throughout several departments.
Students feel the need to advocate for their school, they consider how to be a good activist. Rodriguez mentioned how she mostly sees activism in the beginning of the school year and we also see it as trends but activism is more than that. Sergio Vega believes being a good activist means “not treating school like a 9-5 taking outside of your classes, being active…and being a part of your community.” RHC could greatly benefit from a student advocacy union. In order to do more and see change you have to put effort in outside of the normal school schedule and connect with your community to see what issues others might be facing. Creating a club could help students organize in person and not have to wait for the next trend.
Some students at times find student activism intimidating. Alex Bueno believes that “just allowing students the freedom to protest without any punishment, hosting advocacy clubs and educating the campus police and what not and have a little bit more diversity in clubs” would help student activism on campus. Recently there was a protest where students were encouraged to miss a day of school in protest of the mass deportations and ICE targets but engaging in this protest would have negative effects on many students’ class attendance which would overall affect their grades and GPA. These obstacles make many hesitant to participate in protest as they almost always have a punishment no matter how peaceful.
They believe there is a lot of power in activism but their generation might be afraid of the negative effects. Activism takes many forms and could be done digitally, financially, and physically if you worry about how these protests might affect you talk to your teachers, fellow students and community to find solutions that work for you. Every student deserves to be heard.