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Thursday, March 28, 2024
The Eagle
	Students with AU End Deathtraps protest outside of President Neil Kerwin’s office on Sept. 5.

Staff Ed: AU End Deathtraps are perfect model of what student activists can accomplish

AU is a school full of activists. We protest, picket and boycott everything we can. Some may see this as a negative, and see us as naive millennials who just can’t accept the way the world works, but it’s actually what makes AU unique.

Student organizations like AU End Deathtraps and Fossil Free AU regularly hold our school accountable to the things they might rather cover up.

Recently, AU End Deathtraps successfully petitioned the administration to end partnerships with two companies, Paramount Apparel and Box Seat Clothing, and suspended another, Jansport, because of their unsafe working environments. Although AU has yet to officially cut ties with Jansport, this result shows that a student group can successfully create change in the practices of their administration.

Both AU End Deathtraps and Fossil Free AU show the perfect way students can advocate, which is to look for, point out and demand change on the very things it is convenient for the University to overlook. These organizations know what they want and will not allow the University to get away with paying lip service to their demands.

Still, this change did not come easily. AU End Deathtraps had to petition the school for nearly a year before finally receiving a public statement on the school’s decision to end the licensing agreements, and the administration still has not released Jansport from their agreements. The University seems to be begrudgingly making these decisions, when they should actually be proud of them as an extension of our reputation as a socially conscious campus.

The work of these student activist groups is a perfect model of student activism and its potential effects. The administration should expect to continue to be held accountable by its students in the future, as more students begin to realize the change they can inspire. -E

edpage@theeagleonline.com


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