Assignment 1
Generation Z dominates activism on college campuses
Generation Z, the youngest generation, is at the forefront of multiple social movements that are taking society by storm.
Maddie Martin Oct. 8, 2019
Student activism is resurging and Generation Z is leading the way on Virginia Tech’s campus and beyond.
“Speaking up, raising your voice and being unafraid to say things you believe in will make things end up better,” said Larissa Schneider, United Feminist Movement president, 20.
Gen Z is defined as being born after 1996 meaning Gen Z dominates college campuses. At Virginia Tech, students protested a graduate student instructor who identified as a white supremacist during the State of the University speech in 2017. Take Back the Night is a march in support of victims and survivors of gender based violence that occurs annually. Recently, there was a climate strike on campus as part of the Global Climate Strike. Each were led by Gen Z.
“When someone tells me they don’t believe in climate change I say ‘tell me more.’ Then they’ll start trusting me more and trusting my logic,” said Owen Callahan, 20.
One key identifier of Gen Z other than age is that they are digital natives, which influences the use of social media in their activism.
According to a study from the Pew Research Center, people in the Gen Z age range were more likely to look for protests happening in their area than older age groups. They were also more likely to use hashtags related to political or social issues.
“Social media is a good way to amplify voices that might not get heard otherwise.” Schneider said. “It allows us to learn information from experts, maybe not people with PhDs, but people who are experiencing the side effects of things that are happening.”
Social media’s role in activism is not always positive according to Callahan.
“People see a lot of fake media. People see articles about how the environment is dying and having catastrophic events happen when they actually might not. It’s deceiving.”
Blacksburg, Va Sept. 20, 2019 - The Future An elementary age girl looks out over the crowd comprised mostly of Virginia Tech students gathered on the Drillfield for a Climate Strike. Photo Credit: Maddie Martin
Dale Wimberley (Ph.D) is a Sociology professor at Virginia Tech and a member of the Baby Boomer generation. Wimberley provided a perspective on social movements over a long period of time based on his experience on a human rights focused trip to Nicaragua in the 1990s.
“I remember [Gladys Baez] saying ‘The revolution is like a train. People get on. People get off. The revolution keeps going.’ that’s a really powerful metaphor for how this works.” Wimberley said. “It’s collective. It doesn’t rely on particular individuals.”
