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Let’s hear it for a President who cares about his students

Katherine Kersten’s April 3 column in the Star Tribune, “Coke’s real sin is being a big U.S. corporation,” criticized Macalester students’ efforts to eradicate Coke from campus, suggesting that such students are “striking self-righteous poses, parading in front of cameras and playing the rebel.”

President Rosenberg responded in an April 6 editorial saying that while he may not always agree with Macalester student activists, it is not fair to label such students as thoughtless or self-serving. “They are indeed passionate, and they may on occasion be wrong,” Rosenberg wrote. “One thing they are not, however, is insincere.”

Thank you President Rosenberg for standing behind your students.

The Power of Protest

Demonstrators took to the streets this week nationwide, demanding sweeping immigration reform in the face of a raging congressional battle. The debate has blurred the lines between liberal and conservative, but more importantly, it’s reactivated public discourse through protest. Regardless of where you stand on the matter, the number of Macalester students involved in the St. Paul protest begs us to ask what protest can accomplish.

Just this Tuesday, weeks of protest in France culminated in the replacement of a measure that would have allowed employers to fire workers under 26 in the first two years without stating any reason.

The case of Coca-Cola also proved public demonstration a mode of civic engagement with which to be reckoned. It can be argued that the decision to allow an ILO investigation into the deaths of several Colombian union workers was part of a chain reaction to large scale protests and canceled contracts on college campuses nation-wide.

Wearing your politics on your sleeve (or sign) may be the best weapon you have for whatever political war you choose to wage.

The opinions expressed above are those of The Mac Weekly, as determined by a board comprised of the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editors and Opinion Editors. The perspectives are not representative of Macalester College.