A child of the ‘60s, Elizabeth Brandt, a University of Idaho professor of law, said she knows how deeply social movements can impact young lives.
However, the way social movements rise up, she said, has changed.
“It’s been great to see students becoming more empowered,” Brandt said. “I think we should credit a great deal of that empowerment to the use of social media.”
For young activist and UI College of Law student Audrey Faunce, social media has been both an advantage and a hindrance.
Faunce organized a January counter-protest in response to a pro-life group’s march through Moscow. Social media, she said, plays a large role in organizing social movements within the community.
“A lot of protests now are planned through social media, which is amazing because it really spreads the message a lot more quickly and effectively than the older mediums,” Faunce said.
Anna Green, a member of the Students for Life organization, said social media is a critical piece of creating a well-attended pro-life event.
“This is the main communication platform of society today, so we join in with our voices to make sure we are heard,” Green said.
Brandt said the use of social media allows both sides of a debate to hear each other before they meet on the street or at an event.
“I look forward to dialogue between these different and opposing movements,” Green said. “Dialogue is what brings people together.”
However, discussion often begins on social media, rather than in person, Brandt said, making for a lack of meaningful conversation.
“Access to social media is so democratic, which is a good and bad thing,” Brandt said. “Anyone can get on social media and find an audience, but that doesn’t always mean the message is correctly portrayed.”
Lysa Salsbury, director of the Women’s Center, said social media promotes causes more thoroughly than a simple piece of paper, but it comes with drawbacks.
“People don’t look at flyers or read emails much anymore, it seems,” Salsbury said. “In terms of a hindrance, it can be difficult sometimes to parse through the huge amount of propaganda that proliferates on social media.”
This use of social media has played out in Moscow and on UI’s campus over the last year with an abundance of social movements.
On Sept. 9, hundreds of people gathered in East City Park for the DACA rally. On Jan. 20, pro-choice advocates took to the streets for the women’s march. On that same day, pro-life supporters gathered in Friendship Square to counterprotest.
On March 24, hundreds of protesters marched through Moscow for March for Our Lives, advocating for stronger gun laws.
Just a few days later, on March 30, members of the UI Black Student Union (BSU) marched through Moscow, calling for justice of Stephon Clark.
With the help of social platforms like Facebook, in some cases, events can happen overnight.
Following the DACA announcement President Donald Trump made in September, students did just that.
Karina Zavala, a member of Movimiento Activista Social (M.A.S.), actively participated in a DACA demonstration on UI’s campus.
Signs, ribbons and brochures were created in the span of a few hours. This expedited organization was made possible through a Facebook group.
“To be able to make a page or a group, it (social media) is a big help,” Zavala said. “It is really nice to see a whole community coming together for something like an issue that’s affecting the whole community and other communities as well.”
Campus groups that cultivate young student activism, like M.A.S., prompt people to engage in social movements that might make them uncomfortable — people like Jon Chavez, who is also a member of M.A.S.
Although the DACA demonstration was Chavez’s first social movement, it would not be his last, despite the uncertainty he had surrounding the reactions of other students.
“It brought me out of my comfort zone,” Chavez said. “It was a strong feeling I’ve never felt before.”
This demonstration was just the beginning to a larger discussion — one that is still taking place.
A reocurring discussion on the Palouse, Brandt said, is the debate surrounding gun rights.
“The gun debate didn’t have the footing I expected it have here, but that really showed through on the high school side with some college students,” Brandt said.
The gun debate, Brandt said, largely fell to the student voice over the last school year. The high school students from Parkland, Florida, where a school shooting took 17 lives, have used social media to reach areas far beyond the southern portion of the U.S.
Their outspoken views reached Moscow in March, as more than 1,000 people, mainly students, marched to East City Park in support of the Parkland cause.
Emily Carter, the president of Planned Parenthood Generation Action at University of Idaho, said well-organized marches and protests are made by people with passion.
“Across the country, we have seen elementary age students planning and executing school walkouts,” Carter said. “They may or may not be guided by adults, but they still find the passion to make it happen.”
Carter said she sees that dedication play out through BSU. She said the leaders of the BSU’s latest march were focused on both safety and making an impact.
“It was an incredibly impactful experience and I look up to the leaders of that march in their meticulous planning and incredible passion,” Carter said.
Brandt said structure is a key aspect of really creating change. That structure, Brandt said, was easier to create before social media. Basic pieces of the social movement structure, she said, were aspects such as pre-formed groups, physical meetings and communication outside the screen. Now, Brandt said those pieces are often missing from the structure.
“This structural piece of a movement has to happen or all the marching will just be a moment in time,” Brandt said. “Without structure in place, we don’t secure change.”
Brandt said many of the social movements that make their way up the legal ladder have a shot at becoming legislation. Movements like #METOO have made waves over the last year, largely in part to young people, Brandt said.
“METOO has structure, and a lot of social action lacks structure,” Brandt said.
Faunce, who also sees how social movements involve legislation, said activism and legal studies go hand-in-hand.
“I personally think that the legal field needs activists and people willing to stand up for the rights of folks who are not allowed a voice in our system,” Faunce said.
Salsbury said she thinks people willing to stand up for those rights have reached a tipping point.
“I feel there’s been renewed energy and purpose around mobilizing for social change for a number of issues of inequality and marginalization, not just women’s rights, and that’s been really exciting to witness,” Salsbury said.
Participating in movements and getting involved as a student positively impacts a person’s college experience, Faunce said.
“I think that it really broadens the experience,” she said. “Involvement with the community is healthy and fun. It makes it so that I am not just at school or at home — it gives me a needed break from studying, but I still feel productive. It also makes me feel like I am doing something meaningful while I work to get to a place where I can make a bigger difference.”
Brandt said society has called students “the future” throughout history. But, with outspoken students like those out of the Parkland and those on UI’s campus, that saying rings true now more than ever.
“The student ability to sift through all the noise is a lot different than when I was younger,” Brandt said. “It’s a really different environment now for active young people, but I know they can handle it.”
Hailey Stewart and Savannah Cardon can be reached at [email protected]