Participant Observation

Andrea Garcia

SOC 176

Participation Observation

On Tuesday March 4^th I participated in the March Fourth on March 4^th, it was a multi-issue protest that was held on campus for student to come by tables and see all the different issues that face our campus and the community. Various groups were advocating for different issues, such as Women’s Rights, Animal Abuse, Lower school tuition, Food Recovery, Sweat Shops, and Prison Realignment. This wasn’t my first time participating in a march for issues that face our community and campus but this was my first time participating in more than one cause at a time. I enjoyed looking at all the information the different tables had on their issue, seemed very informative for those who don’t know much about the issue. I thought it was a good idea to have all the groups presenting to have it in the Free Speech area because a lot of our campus students and faculty walk through that area and people seem curious to see what activity is happening on our campus. The tables handed out different types of information, like flyers and they had good statistics and websites too look up to get more information if you were interested. Majority of the ones presenting or behind the table were college students, they had on their backpacks or just coming from class, but there was someone always there to answer any questions you had and were very knowledgeable for what they were advocating for. I was able to see two Sociology professors attend the March Forth protest, which included Dr. Kubal and Dr. Jendian. There was also one elderly lady that was able to March with us, she was from the Raging Grannies, which was also very interesting to see them protest for the wonderful cause they sing able in their performances.

Once the march was up and ready to start everyone who participated was able to hold up a sign for whatever cause they had in mind or whatever sign was generally available. There was about fifty to sixty students, plus two Professors and one member from the Raging Grannies who marched. When I was observing the students holding up there signs there were some interesting strategies on the way to utilize all the signs that were available. I saw some students stick their signs in their backpack and had an extra hand to hold another sign. What was great about this protest was when we were walking all through the campus and even the street on Shaw there were students that stopped by from whatever they were doing to read our signs and cheer us on in our protest. Cars were honking at us, for me I thought of that as a sign of respect and agreement for our march and the different issues we had on our signs. We were notifies that not all the student on campus were able to read our signs because either the sign was too small or the lettering on the signs were clear enough to understand. It would have been great to have other students who got out of class to participate in our march but many of them had class or just weren’t too sure if it was okay to join us along our march. I enjoyed how supportive the students on campus were reacting to our march; many students cheered us on or would even give us high fives and would say “keep up the great work”. The atmosphere was a bit different when we got on the street of Shaw, there were some cars that would honk at us for showing some support but majority of them weren’t too sure what to do because of the lack of knowledge they had on our issues or because they were driving too fast to see what our signs had to say. Once we got back to original destination those who participated on the March Forth on March 4^th all seemed very accomplished in what we were advocating for. Students, faculty, member of the Raging Grannies all had a sense of feeling proud and felt we made a difference even if it was just marching all around campus it was still a very good experience when it comes to making a difference in our campus and the community. I would definitely do another advocacy march again if the opportunity arises again. The goal of this activity was to bring awareness to our campus mainly, our students should have some sense of what is happening and try and get involved in some way so issues like this can be eliminated in an institution that increases awareness and knowledge to the world. We are all receiving higher education so we should use that to our advantage to bring that to our community and those who don’t know this issue is happening in our campus, students and neighborhood.