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Campus activists kick off Occupy USF

Published: Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Updated: Thursday, November 10, 2011 01:11

Ocupy the campus

ORACLE PHOTO/IAN LANPHIER

Dustin Ponder, an activist with Students for a Democratic Society, stood upon a picnic table and addressed students outside of Cooper Hall on Wednesday. ORACLE PHOTO/IAN LANPHIER

Ponder stood up.

"The thing is, though, we had an excellent leader like Cesar, and we are still in the situation we are in," he said. "We had someone with this much passion and energy, but no general can do anything without an army."

Ponder said he and SDS were building that army. Smith reassured the protesters they "have been heard."

"I don't know that we are going to come up with any quick, easy solutions as a result of this conversation," Smith said. "You've definitely been heard. There has been a lot of food for thought. The one that stuck with me the most is that there's got to be more than an A and a B (solution)."

After the meeting, which was supervised by two University Police officers, some students marched back to the free-speech zone outside of Cooper Hall to take part in the Occupy USF movement, which focused more on the goals of the national movements.

About 20 protesters, a cardboard box and a dog sat on blankets, organizing the movement they hoped would gain momentum in time for the Republican primary debate being held on campus in January.

The protesters have no specific end date.

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5 comments

Anonymous
Mon Nov 28 2011 01:25
Is that the same Dustin Pounder who runs for student Govt positions each year .....well at least he's a consistant LOSER
Anonymous
Fri Nov 25 2011 20:01
Noticed so many of these occupy students who claim they don't have enough money for this or that walking around with laptops and cell phones. Must be tough being that poor. Go occupy a job, quit your whining, you will get no sympathy from me.
Anonymous
Tue Nov 15 2011 11:10
OK ... go home ...you failed ..no one cares
Anonymous
Sun Nov 13 2011 19:50
You approve giving student Govt MILLIONS and your complaining about tuition. You applaud the spending of 10's of thousands of dollars in payments to a Rapper/Poet/Motivational Speaker for an hours worth of his time. You complain about old buildings so USF is building state of the art buildings, new garages, dining and residential halls yet you complain about paying. I hear nothing but a bunch of spoiled brat babies pushing this waste of time Occupy USF CRAP ...Grow up folks !
Joe Piervincenti
Sat Nov 12 2011 04:30
Don't like the hike? Go on strike. A tuition strike. Assert your power as consumers and refuse to pay a price that you don't agree with. There and there alone is where you have power. This will not otherwise be reasoned away. They have already considered all of the positions students are in and they raised the tuition anyway, and, forget about big salaries and big administrators going away. It's their turf you're playing on, they make all the rules. Get 40,000 students to say "We refuse to pay and are on strike." They'll notice when zero dollars come into the rich USF bank accounts. Try it, it'll work.




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