The University of California, Berkeley was thrust into the spotlight this week after the Berkeley College Republicans held a controversial bake sale. The event was protesting a student initiative supporting a state Senate bill to allow race, gender and ethnicity to influence admissions decisions at California's public universities.
The group's Facebook page listed the prices for its baked goods, which were intended to reflect the impropriety of affirmative action in the college admissions process: $2 for whites, $1.50 for Asians, $1 for Latinos, 75 cents for African-Americans, and 25 cents for Native Americans. All women received a 25-cent discount off those prices.
The bake sale, which was held on Tuesday, prompted a number of counter-protests. Since then, the event has received national attention from The New York Times, CNN and The Los Angeles Times, among other media outlets. Not quite what you would expect from your average bake sale.
Bowdoin's only comparable bout of student demonstrations erupted in response to Meatless Monday, a spring event organized by the Bowdoin College Democrats. At one dinner, one Monday night, at one dining hall, meat was off the menu. Despite the seemingly small scale of the event, it prompted carnivorous students to protest by grilling and selling meat outside Thorne Dining Hall. These demonstrations somehow caught the attention of Fox News, The Huffington Post, and Inside HigherEd. For better or worse, the Dining Service has not attempted to serve a meatless meal since.
From Meatless Monday and the UC Berkeley bake sale we learn three things. First, food is apparently the weapon of choice for college activists. Second, the news media gorges itself on such overblown demonstrations. Third, student activism—no matter the scope of the issue it addresses—can and does make a difference.
Recently, two students walked out of a chapel service on September 18 after they were offended by a visiting preacher's sermon, which they felt was homophobic. Whether these students intended to or not, they sparked a controversy on campus that resulted in the College's withdrawal of funding for the Bowdoin Christian Fellowship's weekly chapel services.
All of us have our beef with aspects of College policy. Several recent issues have sparked dialogue on campus—the new table arrangement in Moulton, the printing policy, and the over-priced snacks in the Union—yet these discussions do not tend to be productive. Rather, we complain instead of working to engage others in the search for solutions. Though the methods of the Berkley College Republicans may have been misguided, they managed with one small bake sale to spark nationwide debate. It only takes a few hundred cupcakes to get people inspired.
The editorial represents the majority view of the Bowdoin Orient’s editorial board, which is comprised of Nick Daniels, Sam Frizell, Linda Kinstler, Zoë Lescaze and Elizabeth Maybank.