Students for Staff organized a successful rally and protest outside the Miami University student center yesterday. Despite the unusual cold, there was a crowd of about 50-70 students and staff gathered together on the patio, eating snacks and hanging out.
This is a rare occasion on our campus, when people come together and engage in meaningful dialog with one another, and even more rare is the opportunity to apply our shared concerns into ACTION.
But, that is exactly what we saw yesterday, as the event kicked off with speeches and testimonials from students AND staff, in support of a mutual fight for just wages at Miami University.
We then took to the streets in collective action, carrying signs and this letter to President Hodge,
snaking through campus, hitting a campus landmark, the Upham Arch,
where traditionally most Miami mergers begin with a kiss (the image of students and staff charging thru in peaceful protest is thus particularly poignant),
to end on the steps of Roudebush, the administrative building.
We extended hands and ascended the stairs, a chain of students in solidarity, from the President's door, where we delivered the letter, down to the door.
It was beautiful to see so many people out there doing something political together, and standing strong even in the face of the police, who came expecting to break up a student protest. It made me swell with hope, realizing that maybe we'd finally woken people up.
-stephan!e
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