Quiet but significant
Students like the ones discussed in “A new age of activism at college,” [NWThursday, Dec. 6], who are personally motivated to change the world, are common on college campuses across the world and have been throughout history. The change between college activism in the 1960s and college activism now, as noted by the column, is an important one to understand.

In many ways, activism now is less loud. With the exception of Occupy, which was swept under the rug surprisingly quickly, the current form of activism is less about protests and drawing media coverage and more about organized, formal and even legal responses to the injustices of the world.

In America at least, the mainstream, fear-based media hold more power than more legitimate news sources, which means those trying to make a significant social or political change are frequently overlooked.

The students from this article are prime examples of college success. They are not only educated, but they educated in how to effect positive change. Even though there are many students who drink excessively and live off their parents’ money, there are some out there using their talents to better the world, even if you don’t hear about them much.

—Eric Sparks, Bellingham