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Local
Students Fight for a Voice
by Donovan Roediger |
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On November
13, a group of students at Central High School in Champaign
formed a club for student rights. Less than a month after
its creation, the Central Student Coalition (CSC) now
has a total of eighty-three members. The coalition’s purpose
is to provide students with a forum in which to express
their views, and to more effectively translate their views
into action.
Since its founding, the CSC has been struggling to gain
recognition by the school. The administration has given
no solid reason for its denial, but states that it has
the right to refuse recognition to any group that it feels
“won’t benefit the educational process”. While continuing
to strive for recognition, we are currently working on
several projects that have been proposed by our members.
Our first goal is to end or at least reduce the influence
of corporate sponsorship in our public schools. Every
day we hear absurd stories such as a student being summoned
to the office for wearing a Pepsi logo on his shirt, or
lunch ladies being told by Coke employees not to drink
out of a Pepsi mug. It is sick that schools allow themselves
to be exploited by corporations, selling out for a new
scoreboard in the gymnasium. On our campus, students have
no choice but to buy Coke products because they are all
that is offered. All that the CSC is asking is that Coke
loosen its grip on the school.
Our second project is the defense of a Pizza Planet vendor
who sells pizzas out of his van behind the school. This
vendor operates entirely within his license, but the school
has nevertheless pressured him to the point where he felt
the need to hire an attorney. The school applied this
pressure probably because he is having an adverse effect
on the profits of the cafeteria. The student body has
been very active in its support of this perfectly legitimate
business, and it appears as if the administration is starting
to come to its senses and work with the vendor rather
than against him.
Another project we have recently started is the CSC’s
anti-war section, called the Central League Against War
(CLAW). The purpose of this section is to organize students
to promote peace, and to show the city’s youth that there
are options other than bombs and guns. We will work with
groups such as AWARE to publicize protests, and we will
use any means possible to bring the anti-war movement
to the public’s attention. |
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