Following the Kent State Shootings in 1970, four million students across the United States broke out in protest. Hundreds of colleges shut down, and the movement became a key component in pressuring the government to end the Vietnam War. Student strikes have become far less common today, with the most recent major political strikes happening in April of 2025, when over 100 campuses rallied against the Trump administration’s “assault on higher education.” In the younger generation’s favor, however, the most memorable strikes in recent times started at Columbia College in April of 2024, where the resilience of just a few hundred students sparked a global conversation on the ongoing Gaza genocide, and inspired similar protests at over 180 universities worldwide.
Once again, waves of outrage are rising across the United States today — and rightfully so — due to record-high gas prices averaging $3.30 per gallon nationwide and TSA wait times now exceeding 4.5 hours at several airports. The U.S. economy is in shambles, and many government employees now face devastating payroll cuts due to the fourth government shutdown under President Trump. Yes, these situations are undeniably outrageous to travelers, workers and market goers alike. Most of us, however, have become so accustomed to consumer culture in the United States that we only demonstrate, or even feel, outrage at these atrocities when we experience their effects directly in our daily lives. Our generation is not striking to the degree that college kids have historically, and our growing egocentrism is partly to blame for our inaction.
According to recent studies, egocentrism — the inability to distinguish one’s own perspectives from others’, which leads to an overemphasis of personal opinions, needs and feelings — is on the rise in the United States. With the prominence of influencer culture, overconsumption and materialism, it is not surprising that many Americans have developed a tendency — whether conscious or unconscious — to center their own comfort and routine over everything else. Consequently, it’s easy to continue worrying over our own problems and neglecting our nation’s impact on the rest of the world — that is, until we experience the impact ourselves.
Trump is actively prolonging a war causing mass casualties, fostering a global energy shock and foreshadowing the downfall of our national economy. Yet, seven weeks into the war with Iran, most of us remained frozen — it was only when we had to spend a bit more of our pocket money or stand in line for a bit longer that people stopped exchanging complaints and aggravated sighs and suddenly started to ask: “What are we going to do about this?”
Rising gas prices are a direct result of this war. Trump’s planned attacks led to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and economists fear the closure foreshadows a global recession — with oil and gas prices already skyrocketing worldwide. Simultaneously, with the pressure the US-Iran war exerts on the global economy, millions of individuals across the world and vulnerable populations in the U.S. are sinking into poverty due to the shock of high energy and food prices. In addition to the economic damage created by the war, air raids have destroyed significant Iranian infrastructure, including water plants, elementary schools and hospitals, putting the nation in a state of utmost desperation.
As Trump’s war in Iran — which the European Council on Foreign Relations called a “prolonged war” — wages on, Trump has caused just as much of a disaster at home by prompting yet another complete government shutdown. The shutdown resulted from ongoing budget disputes between Trump and Congress, and it had a ripple effect on SNAP programs for low-income families, devastating millions of Americans who needed these programs. In recent shutdowns, SNAP funding has been used as negotiatory leverage. Many Americans resented this decision — so why didn’t we bother to do anything? We as citizens have become so steeped in our consumerist culture that we don’t necessarily feel moved to action when Trump is ruining other people’s lives — as long as he is not running ours with long wait times at the airport.
The egocentricism swallowing citizens is the very reason we have not struck, but also why we have to strike. Many of us choose not to strike because we believe we can’t have an actual impact on such a large issue. But, Trump hopes nothing more than for people to continue sitting in the comfort of their homes and hope that things will miraculously get better. He wants us to feel like he can do anything and we can’t do anything about it, because if we believe this is the case, he can continue to take advantage of us — and why wouldn’t he if we do nothing when he wreaks havoc?
If we find ourselves in a position where we can choose to ignore or dissociate from these devastating realities, we have a responsibility to act on them. If we are privileged enough not to feel these effects of a war or a government shutdown immediately, we at the very least have a responsibility to recognize these atrocities before they reach us through comparatively privileged impacts like gas prices or TSA wait times.
Furthermore, as 5C students residing in the “Claremont bubble,” we are not exposed to many of the risks of striking. Most of us have the privilege of living in the security that college life provides, so it becomes especially easy to feel like we don’t really need to do anything. We have become so used to our high standard of living that it seems unimaginable when something happens that disrupts the efficient operation of the bureaucratic system we rely on every day.
Now is the time when we have a responsibility to strike, as we have seen that simply being frustrated is not enough to drive change. Our inaction has allowed travesties like these to happen over and over again, and we have to show that we are not willing to tolerate them any longer. Many of us residing in Claremont have a lot less to lose than the average American, and it would be a terrible waste if we didn’t make an effort to resist in such a desperate time. With that, I encourage you to participate actively in resistance movements, inform yourselves of the impacts of global disasters and take initiative to organize or join student strikes.
If Columbia students had chosen not to strike for fear of having no impact, fellow students wouldn’t have rallied nationwide. Personally, I would rather protest and fail than simply do nothing and wonder what could have changed, and I would hope that 5Cs students feel the same.
Olivia Brinkman PO ’29 would like to thank Leili for the all nighter she pulled to help get this Op done
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