Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

TOPOROFF: Occupiers Spurn Academia

Though initially dismissed as merely the work of hippie protestors, the Occupy Together movement has been steadily gaining credibility, particularly in the eyes of the media. Yet in its current form, the movement stands fundamentally opposed to the values we espouse as students. When we consider ourselves through the lens of these protests, we realize that Georgetown students should not support the Occupy Together movements.

Though the anger of the so-called 99 percent is genuine, Occupy Together has yet to assert clear goals or prescribe meaningful solutions. In an article by Nick Defiesta of Yale Daily News, one student argues that it is the job of students to create a “cohesive narrative” from the problems Occupy Together recognizes. “If Occupy lacks proposals for real solutions,” the author writes, “our task is to look forthem.”

This is the essence of studentship, whether at Yale or otherwise. The article’s recommendation even echoes the words of Saint Ignatius of Loyola to the Jesuit student: “Go forth and set the world on fire.”Students should learn to not only be problem identifiers, but problem solvers as well.

Indeed, the task of searching for answers defines what it means to be a student. Yet while some of us might share in Occupy’s frustrations, it would be arrogant to think that we could add any value to the organization through proposing remedies. Occupy Together is an uninspired movement lacking vision. The so-called 99 percent of which Occupy Together consists has set clear boundaries outside of which we, students seeking a real “cohesive narrative,” fall.

In essence, we are part of an intellectual one percent. Occupy Together decries the very institutions that students, especially we at Georgetown, intend on seeking in order to implement change. We aspire to sit at the helm of business and politics and to speak up for those who cannot. But this movement fails to see a genuine intellectual one percent beneath more obvious socioeconomic appearances. At the university level, the value of problem-solving is lost beneath a perception of privilege.

In the eyes of Occupy Together, the student of the academic one percent is among the same entitled one percent. As Defiesta’s piece concludes, this perception affects the relationship between students and the protest. It is only reasonable that the author feels that by virtue of being in the one percent as a Yale University student, problem solving should not only be a goal, but an obligation. However, Occupy has not only failed to find answers, it has jettisoned the value of problem solving altogether. The 99 percent may have intended to emphasize a socioeconomic distinction; through misperception, the 99 percent created an intellectual wall as well.

The college campus has historically been a battleground for the clashes between citizens and government; what’s more, we often hold a romantic view of protesting as a quintessentially collegiate activity. But this time, the identity of the student and the identity of Occupy Together cannot be reconciled. As long as Occupy Together conflates intellectualism and privilege in identifying the one percent, it will remain a stagnant movement devoid of goals, and devoid of students.

Andrew Toporoff is a sophomore in the College. MULTUMQUE UNUM appears every other Friday.

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