Walk-outs, protests are followed by silence on actual solutions
Thousands of college students participated in a nationwide walkout recently in protest of gun violence, leaving their classrooms and joining demonstrations in support of nationwide stricter gun control measures.
When asked, however, the leaders of these walkouts at several elite universities refused to clarify what kinds of gun control policies they would like to see put in place, their silence highlighting the persistent gap between activist efforts and actual political action.
Walkouts occurred at numerous American colleges last month. At Cornell University, the school’s College Democrats group led the event.
“We have had enough,” College Democrats President Natalie Brown told the crowd, according to The Cornell Daily Sun. She said that the protest was meant to “remember each and every victim of every school shooting, unnecessary death and murder that could have been prevented with stricter and common sense gun laws.”
“Unless we stay united in our resolve for this issue, it will fall flat,” she added.
The College Fix reached out repeatedly to Cornell’s College Democrats and asked what types of policies they would like to see put in place to reduce gun violence in this country. The group did not respond to the emails.
A similar walkout took place at Georgetown University, where The Hoya reported that “hundreds of students” left class and “called for gun control measures to prevent future tragedies and encouraged participants to vote out legislators who refuse to pass gun control measures.”
One of those participants, Georgetown senior Sarah Clements, said that the protests were part of a “nationwide groundswell for gun control reforms.”
“We are demanding change from our leaders and politicians,” she said, according to The Hoya.
Clements also did not respond to requests from The Fix seeking further information on the “gun control reforms” she and the protesters desired.
Nor did Keiko Cooper-Hohn, one of the organizers of a walkout at Brown University. At that school’s protest there were numerous demands for gun control from the hundreds of students who took part. One participant called for electing “politicians that are on the same page of gun reform, that are trying to do things for the students and not for their pockets.”
Emailed repeatedly, Cooper-Hohn did not clarify what, if any, gun control policies she favors.
Gun rights have been a contentious debate on college campuses in recent years. Last year, Second Amendment activist Antonia Okafor launched a pro-woman campus carry activist program. Okafor was later barred from speaking at Hampshire College because her presence there would create “intense debate,” campus officials said.
Last summer, in a smashing victory for campus carry activists, a Texas judge tossed out a lawsuit that sought to outlaw campus carry on constitutional grounds.
MORE: Mizzou professor sues university over ‘gun ban’ on campus
MORE: College’s director of Women and Gender Studies urges Obama to ban guns
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