Conference to Examine Student Activism

Prompted by the resurgence of nationwide student activity protesting U.S. aid to El Salvador, nuclear disarmament, and President Reagan's cuts in financial aid, the Institute of Politics will sponsor a conference on student activism Saturday to examine differences between current protests and those in the '60s and suggest strategies for student activists.

The conference, focusing on the shift in campus activity from the anti-war demonstrations in the 1960s to the more varied concerns today, will encourage students to work with community groups outside the University in order to present a unified front.

A conference participant said much of the disillusionment of the '60s resulted from lack of coordination between activist groups.

Michael Ansara '68, who was active in the Vietnam War protests, said that students today "tend to romanticize the protest period of the 1960s, glossing over the hard work and the mistakes that were made."

New Tactics

Student activists have switched tactics, working towards "radical" goals while using techniques "conservative in style," said Jamin Raskin '84, president of the Harvard-Radcliffe Peace Alliance, a group of undergraduates active against draft resumption.

Conference participants noted that the economic situation has changed to give students less economic security and consequently more pressure to drop activism and concentrate on academics. The conference will stress the differences between current economic concerns and the more sweeping social activism in the '60s.

Campus activists have learned from the widely publicized disillusionment of the '70s not to expect to reach their goals overnight. Raskin said. This far-sightedness should eventually help organizers to reach their goals, he added.