The message, Beaupre says, has to hit close to home to be effective. Steve DeLue, associate dean of Miami's University College of Arts and Science and a political science professor, agrees students have a harder time promoting a cause than in the past. Great galvanizing issues such as civil rights and the Vietnam War are not involved. Environmentalism could become such an issue soon, but it, too, might lack the seeming simplicity of segregation or the draft. He says many students are cynical about politics, knowing the squeaky wheel with the most money gets oiled first.
Many students like to see the results of their work immediately.
A student who helps to build a house for a family in need can see that house when it's done. This isn't usually the case when attacking global issues. DeLue believes, however, that if each person would work to get one person out of slavery, there would eventually be no slaves. DeLue says his students have good hearts and want to lend a hand, but many choose to lend that hand to a neighbor rather than reach around the world. Clinton Hewan, professor of political science at Northern Kentucky University, says complacency still predominates on college campuses.