While recent police crackdowns on encampments in McPherson Square and in other cities across the country have diminished some of the intensity and media coverage surrounding the Occupy protests, Occupy movements at colleges across the District persist, collaborating with each other to organize new protests and actions.
At Georgetown, known more for its conservative values than student activism, the student Occupy contingent remains a small one. There are just 50 people on the Georgetown Occupy email listserv, and only 10 to 15 students regularly attend general meetings. But organizer Gina Bull (SFS ’12) says these numbers belie the group’s effectiveness.
“In a group like this, you don’t really need a bunch of people,” Bull said. “What you really need is a few people who are really dedicated, and I think that’s what we have.”
At American University, on the other hand, student participation is much bigger. “American University has a huge amount of progressive vibe,” Bull, who has attended meetings at AU for the past few weeks, said.
“When we communicate with George Washington University and Georgetown, they often tell us that it’s hard to get people to care,” Mana Aliabadi, a member of Occupy American University, said. “We do have that problem here, but I feel like it’s a bigger problem at Georgetown and GWU.”
Bull admits that compared to American University, Georgetown’s number of active students does lag behind. However, she asserts that Georgetown is not unique in its lack of commitment to Occupy. “GW, I would say, has a smaller group than ours,” Bull said.
Samuel Nelson, a GW student who is active at GW’s Progressive Student Union and has attended GW Occupy events, wrote in an email that GW is a “very corporate, neoliberal school,” and described the student body as “apathetic.”
Despite recent evictions, the quieting down of the media, and dwindling public attention, Occupiers insist that the movement has not lost its momentum, nor has its Georgetown contingent. According to Rachel Nethery (COL ’12), an active member of GU Occupy, the Student Occupy D.C. movement has advanced from focusing on organization and growth to engagement and action. “We got a stable group out now,” Nethery said. “The organization phase has progressed.”
For Occupy AU, that progressive trend brought more emphasis to student issues, ranging from financial matters like student loans, debts, and tuition costs to social issues like gender issues, gay rights, and racism. “It will resonate with [the students],” Aliabadi said. “Anyone can come and be part of it…and be represented.”
Georgetown Occupy collaborated with Occupy AU and other universities involved in Student Occupy D.C. in several protests, notably the Take Back the Capitol October march to Sallie Mae, the Occupy Alfalfa Club event, and Occupy Conservative Political Action Conference this past weekend.
The Occupy participants say that misinterpretation of the movement is that they struggle in their effort to reach more students.
“People should realize that Students Occupy D.C. isn’t about encampments, [and] that it focuses on student issues,” Aliabadi said. “We’re all on the same boat.”
Nethery agreed, stating that “it’s a misinterpretation of the movement to think that it’s about camping out at parks…it’s a tactic, not an end.”
In the future, the group is hoping for a big turnout both from Georgetown and from the D.C. community to a “teach-in,” which will be led by a diverse group of occupiers and experts. The group is also collaborating with other schools in the area in organizing action for the National Day for Education on March 1.
The Occupy participants encourage fellow students to keep an open mind. “Highly prioritized academics and super studious students [are] great, but hopefully they will try to reverse that and try to bring more progressive and enlightened sort of thinking,” Aliabadi said. “It’s an issue that we all have in common, unless you’re one of the privileged few.”
Bull said the biggest challenge the group faces is misperceptions about the state of the protests. “People ask me, ‘is it over?’” she said. “Do you think something doesn’t exist because it’s not in the news?”
