User:LaSaltarella/Activism
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[edit] THIS IS THE BLURB THAT WILL GO TO THE OHIO WESLEYAN MAIN ARTICLE
Activism, defined as "practice that emphasizes direct vigorous action in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue"[1] was embedded in the very vision for founding of the school[2] and has played an important role in the history of Ohio Wesleyan University.[3]
The first college president Edward Thomson was a staunch supporter of anti-slavery and liberalism.[4] Branch Rickey is regarded as the figure in the history of professional baseball for breaking the racial barrier in baseball.[5] Mary King, a civil rights activist[6], worked alongside the Reverend Dr. (Martin Luther King, Jr.) in the U.S. civil rights movement and was a member of the staff of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).[7][8] In the 1980s, student political action had brought Ohio Wesleyan's administration to pledge to fully divest holdings connected to South Africa. [9] Ohio Wesleyan also has a variety of partisan groups ranging from liberal to conservative, including the College Republicans, the College Democrats and several activism awareneness groups such as ProgressOWU, Black Men of the Future, Student Union on Black Awareness, PRIDE, ECHO, Amnesty International and Rafiki Wa Afrika. Given the schools's proximity to the Ohio state capital of Columbus, many politically-inclined students get internships for the state representatives.[10][11]
Recent years have witnessed student activism by student groups on issues of the Iraq war, race, globalization and women's reproductive rights.[12][13][14][15] In 2005, a campus controversy received national attention.[16] This time both Ohio Wesleyan students and the administration severely criticized and acted[17] against the Campus Crusade for Christ group on campus. Students and administrators complained of being bullied by the ministry's members.[18] The most recent backlash at OWU has been due to the Campus Crusade's "Do You Agree with Adam?" campaign, which encouraged Christians campuswide to openly display signs of their faith. Most believed the resulting actions were aggressively intrusive, and much of the campaign incorporated chalking, which had been against the school's policy.[19] As a result, several activist groups and the administration protested the organization's presence on campus and made it clear that the organization was not welcome on the Ohio Wesleyan campus.[17]
[edit] THIS IS THE MAIN ACTIVISM ARTICLE
[edit] Activism
Activism, defined as "practice that emphasizes direct vigorous action in support of or opposition to one side of a controversial issue"[1] was embedded in the very vision for founding of the school[20] and has played an important role in the history of Ohio Wesleyan University.[3]
On August 5, 1846, the first president Edward Thomson delivered his inaugural address. He maintained that the college was a product of the liberality of the people of Delaware and that it was fortunate that Ohio Wesleyan was founded in a community divided in religious and political opinions because the friction of a mixed society prevented dogmatism and developed energy and pointed out that the spirit of the college is the spirit of liberty.[21] In the early days of the college, Thomson was frequently vocal in the national political debates of the times — namely slavery and the expansion of the United States.[22] In 1857, he denounced the argument that southern Christians "should retain their slaves in obedience to state laws forbidding manumission," saying that "the soft and slippered Christianity which disturbs no one, is not the Christianity of Christ."[4]
Elizabeth Boynton Harbert, a women's suffrage movement activist published several books on women's issues and women's suffrage, Out of Her Sphere and The Woman's Kingdom and was the chief editor of a women's suffrage newspaper, The New Era in 1885.[23]
Branch Rickey is regarded as the figure in the history of professional baseball for breaking the racial barrier in baseball.[5] In 1943, Rickey became president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers.[24] Beginning with the signing of Jackie Robinson, an African American baseball player in 1946 for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Rickey became became renowned for his role in the racial integration of the game. Rickey's feelings on integration were a primary motivating factor in his decision.[5] Another graduate, Mary King, when she was a young student, worked alongside the Reverend Dr. (Martin Luther King, Jr.) in the U.S. civil rights movement and was a member of the staff of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC).[8]
In the war years of 1917-1999 and the break of relations between the United States and Germany struck a military tone on campus. Individual students were volunteering in the Marines, in the Canadian forces, or in other forms of service.[25] As America entered World War I the U.S. War Department inaugurated the Students’ Army Training Corps, a program designed to use existing colleges and universities as training facilities for new military personnel. In the morning of October 1, 1918, about 150,000 college boys on campuses in the United States transformed into student soldiers. This was the induction into the Students' Army Training Corps. In Delaware, on campus, approximately four hundred students were given the oath of allegiance.[26] The men received the regular army training and academic instruction prescribed by the committee on Education and Special Training of the War Department. The mode of student activities changed: campus traditions were violated, athletic events were cancelled throughout the fall semester of 1918.[27]
In 1966, students established an Upward Bound program, funded by Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, for students from lower-income and poverty areas to prepare for college.[28] The Arts Castle, the Early Childhood Center, the Big Pal/Little Pal Program, the Andrews House, the Office of Community Service and the International Ambassador High School Program are among the many programs founded the since the 1970s to provide services to the larger community in Delaware.
The escalation of the Vietnam War in the early 1960s had a significant impact on Ohio Wesleyan students. A small minority had been concerned with the war for several years, but the bombing of North Vietnam and the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in August 1964 raised campus-wide awareness almost overnight. The Vietnam War, so distant, became a huge presence on campus that affected ideas of community, student power, and free speech, and influenced daily decisions like class choices and social interactions.The first stirrings of protest against the war occurred in late 1964. In December, the Wesleyan Council of Student Affairs voted to send a letter to President Johnson opposing the expansion of the war and advocating withdrawal. Opposing expansion was a fairly moderate position, but calling for withdrawal was much more radical.
As Reverend Martin Luther King frequently spoke in the United States against the South African government in the 1960s, urging Americans to end trade and investments in that country.[29] When political activity by South Africa's blacks in 1985, the government declared a state of emergency.[30] By February 1987, student political action had brought Ohio Wesleyan to pledge to fully divest holdings connected to South Africa. [31]
Recent activism has focused on controversial issues such as the Iraq war, globalization, religion and womens' reproductive rights. In April 2002, about a hundred Ohio Wesleyan students gathered in The Mall in Washington, DC in the second day of a weekend of protests for an array of causes, including the Middle East crisis, but also to denounce lending policies of The World Bank. [32] In February 2003 approximately 100 OWU students traveled to New York City to protest the war in Iraq with partial funding from the Wesleyan Chaplain's office. [14]
During Ohio Wesleyan University Against the War on October 05, 2004 and November 17, 2004, more than a hundred students held peace rallies in front of the Delaware city hall.[12]
In 2004, the awarding of the Lilly grant "Vocation: Identity, Intellect, and Life Choices: A Move Toward Wholeness" and the prospect of the participation by Ohio Wesleyan in the Lilly Endowment program on vocation evoked an intense adverse response from a significant group of faculty members. An open letter signed by more than 40 faculty members questioned the appropriateness of the predominantly Christian focus of the grant.
On March 17, 2005 the Student Union on Black Awareness (SUBA) and College Democrats organized a protest[13] on Sandusky Street in Delaware against racial injustice on campus and the country. University president Mark Huddleston also participated in the protest. During his own college years, current president Mark Huddleston mediated between protesters and administration, favoring classic liberal education over brick-throwers.[33]
In 2005, both Ohio Wesleyan students and the administration severely criticized and acted[17] against the Campus Crusade for Christ group. Students and administrators complained of being bullied by the ministry's members.[34] The most recent backlash at OWU has been due to the Campus Crusade's "Do You Agree with Adam?" campaign, which encouraged Christians campuswide to openly display signs of their faith. Most believed the resulting actions were aggressively intrusive, and much of the campaign incorporated chalking, which had been against the school's policy.[19] As a result, several activist groups and the administration protested the organization's presence on campus and made it clear that the organization was not welcome on the Ohio Wesleyan campus.[17].
Academic pursuit and activism have found an intersection in the form of an annual event called The Sagan National Colloquim.[35] Established in 1984, the Sagan National Colloquium (SNC) spotlights annually an issue of concern in the liberal arts — the impact of science on society, race and reality, censorship and power, and the role of globalization.[36]
