During Fall 2022, Ithaca College students created and circulated a petition requesting more parking for students on campus. In August 2023, the college announced that two existing blue lots — where faculty are permitted to park — would be converted into student parking lots. This is a small example of student activism in action, although there is a question to be raised about whether complaints from the campus community should have to be raised to the level of a petition for the college to hear them. 

Colleges are institutions that promote education and innovation, and as such, they should be open to being changed, updated and developed as the needs of the campus community shift. The best way to do this is to create avenues that facilitate open conversation between the college and its students, faculty and staff. However, when these avenues fail, it is also important for the campus community to engage in citizen activism and take matters into their own hands. 

With that being said, there is also a proper and an improper way to interpret activism like petitions. When a person creates a petition, realistically the only people likely to engage with it are those interested in signing to acknowledge their agreement. Petitions do not come with a, “No, thank you and here is why” section; they only represent one side of the story. Therefore, when the college is made aware of a popular petition, the proper response is to engage with its contents, take into account all of those people affected to get their sides of the story and formulate a plan accordingly. 

For example, in this case, students wanted more parking, but that would come at the expense of faculty and staff losing some space. What had to be decided was if this was the best decision for the campus community as a whole.

What is more important, however, is not the change that was made, but that students were able to enact change through student activism. It is equally important that resulting adjustments are made consciously and with consideration for the impact on the entire campus.