Confession: Back in the 90s, I identified as a “liberal” whilst hanging around the University of Arizona campus taking my Creative Writing and Cinematography classes (which I put to VERY good use) in the Modern Languages building. My temporary period of insanity ended abruptly when I entered the real world and got my first job making (less than) minimum wage as a night time disc jockey at a radio station in Tucson and I figured out (the hard way) that no one owed me a darned thing because of my piece of paper or because of who I am (ego reality-check). More sobering real-world lessons followed.

During my U of A days, my biggest petition and priority for any thing on campus was for some decent wattage for our popcorn-signal college radio station (a glorified PA system, really) that blared Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Pixies and other 90s Alt-Rock. I was not concerned about politics. I was a self-professed “Democrat” because it was “cool” to be a Democrat. Republicans were “too uptight”. When I shared my philosophies one day with my KAMP Student Radio buddies (all professed Republicans) and they argued that my stances on marijuana and abortion were Conservative and asked me to do some reading and examine my party of affiliation, I flipped the heck out. Again, it wasn’t until several years of working hard to support myself that I realized my friends were right.

So when one of my radio buddies from The Old Pueblo shared this article on Facebook this past week, I got a good chuckle. The Daily Wildcat headline reads: “Protest for marginalized students a ‘PR event’ to raise awareness of demands”. The group, “Marginalized Students of the University of Arizona”, is a conglomeration of students in campus cultural organizations to include the Adalberto & Ana Guerrero Center, African American Student Affairs, Asian Pacific Student Affairs, the LGBTQ Resource Center, Native American Student Affairs and the Women’s Resource Center. Students within the groups levied a complaint in the list of demands against U of A President Ann Weaver Hart, who finished her listening tour of minority and cultural groups with the Guerrero Center this past Tuesday. From the complaint: