Student Activism

When I was a college student, the most I had to worry about was getting to classes, practicing (I was a music student), and studying. Those were a challenge for me because I was constantly being distracted by other things (parties, and an occasional crush on some good looking guy - before I fell for Kent, that is!). Today, students are more politically savvy and activism is coming back in some circles.

I read this article yesterday about a college student taking on his college over the Boy Scouts (yes, they still are expelling boy scouts and scout leaders who are gay). It prompted me to write the following letter to the college President, Kenneth Ender.

Dear President Ender:

I was very disturbed at an article that appeared on the internet regarding bias and discrimination at Cumberland County College. I would think that at the college level, most people would stop discriminating against students at a college, particularly when that person was the President of the college.

By allowing the Boy Scouts of America to meet on campus, you are allowing your college to practice discrimination. This can be said of any group. In the case of the Boy Scouts of America, it's bias and discrimination against homosexuals. Does your college indeed sanction this kind of discrimination?

Your views on this issue are your own. However, by allowing this to happen, you are saying that it's also ok for the college you represent to practice this discrimination. Since that seems to be the case, I will be posting an opinion to this on my website. It currently receives approximately 10,000 hits a day. Word spreads fast on the internet. It's too bad that you have brought this controversy to your college.

Bill Cannon
Coventry, CT
http://billandkent.com

I guess activism is still alive and well, even in an old activist like me. A bit from the article I cited above:

VINELAND -- When Kyle Brandon arrived for classes at Cumberland County College one night last spring, he didn't expect to come face to face with dozens of members of the Boy Scouts of America.

But that's what happened when Brandon, a 36-year-old openly gay Vineland resident, walked into the college's Frank Guaracini Jr. Fine and Performing Arts Center. The stress of witnessing the start of a Boy Scouts award ceremony for the college's president, Kenneth Ender, was so intense that he broke out in cold sweat, Brandon said.

In the months since that day in April, Brandon's experience has brought the national debate on the Boy Scouts of America's policies toward gays and atheists to the college's pine tree-shaded campus. And school officials are taking the debate seriously.

In a complaint filed with the school's Board of Trustees last month, Brandon asks that the Boy Scouts be banned from CCC's campus because of the organization's refusal to extend membership to atheists and gays.

"The (U.S.) Supreme Court said the Boy Scouts have the right to discriminate," Brandon said. "But that doesn't mean an institution that receives state and federal funding should open their doors to them."