It’s a question central to the commencement cancellations, protest encampments and building takeovers that have been significant features of college life across California and America this spring: Should taxpayers fund college classes in agitation and protest, currently offered on many campuses? No one knows exactly how many products of these classes have populated the protests and arrest rolls this spring, but bet on there being a significant number. Not every campus offers such classes today, and what they teach can be used anywhere in protests of almost anything, from support for Palestinians and Hamas to backing Israel and organizing insurrections that invade government buildings to disrupt key proceedings. But since a substantial percentage of those arrested around the country this spring had no connection to the campuses where they camped out – 60 percent of arrestees at City University of New York, 24 of 64 at UC San Diego, 40 percent at MIT and 26 of 33 at the University of Pennsylvania, for just four examples – it’s a safe bet at least some of the springtime protesters were trained in agitation by public institutions.
Here’s what the catalog entry says about “Communications Studies 20, Agitation and Protest,” an offering of Santa Monica College, the community college sending more transfer students than any other to the University of California: “Agitational and protest communication includes the strategies, tactics and communication utilized by moveme.
