The Orbis

In an ideal society, being a citizen of the United States would mean more than just slapping an American flag bumper sticker on your car and singing along with the National Anthem at sporting events. It would mean taking an active role in how society functions: thinking critically about messages that media and politicians send, expressing dissent when necessary and holding leaders accountable for their actions. It would also mean respecting someone else's interpretation of current events and supporting that person's right to express dissent.

At Vanderbilt, we've been making impressive progress toward the first goal: in the past year, there has been a rapid increase in activism on campus -- Support for a Unified Vanderbilt began a living wage campaign last year, Students for Peace started in the spring in opposition to the U.S. invasion of Iraq and a Vanderbilt Vegetarian Society is in its early stages of existence. So many new groups are forming that students have formed the Vanderbilt Activist Network to keep track of them all, evidence that existing groups are more organized than ever this year. Vanderbilt now has student activist groups ranging in interest from feminism to global health and from GLBT issues to the environment.

Unfortunately, the second goal -- embracing freedom of speech for all points of view -- still needs some work. The average reaction to last year's peace protests was not excitement that Vanderbilt students were finally taking an interest in politics but rather horror that anyone would dare to challenge President Bush's foreign policy decisions, especially after the choices had already been made. A similar response met the protest following an attempted gang rape on fraternity row -- many students were more worried that fraternities were being mistreated than that a woman had almost been raped inside a frat house on our campus.

Still, though, the recent surge of political activism at Vanderbilt is exciting. Students from the now broad spectrum of groups joined together on Monday to protest Bush's foreign and domestic policies during his campaign fundraiser at Loew's Vanderbilt Hotel, demonstrating an inspiring energy that can only continue to spread.

Orbis will continue to serve as a forum for the expression of this new growth and change. We cannot continue to function as a culture of obedience; we must instead learn to think for ourselves and to question our surroundings. There is too much at stake in the coming months for us to remain complacent. What may prove to be one of the biggest elections in recent history is already well underway, and the victor will have the power to change not only the future of this country but also of the world -- either Bush will continue to strip us of our civil liberties and erode our international relations for another four years, or we will have the opportunity to restore our nation's integrity before the current policies destroy it beyond repair.

For the perpetuation of democracy lies in citizens, not in institutions, and it is up to us to chart our own course. Indeed, through the actions we take today, we are writing our own history -- creating the legacy by which our generation will be remembered.

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