Nader encourages civic duty, strikes nerve with students
Tracy Taylor
Issue date: 10/22/09 Section: News
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"If not for the forbearers, you wouldn't be here. All social injustice movements start with someone who has no power," Nader said. "The difference between us and [the forbearers] is they didn't make excuses for themselves."
Nader attempted to deplete the "I don't have time" mentality amongst students when he gave his lecture, "The Mega Corporate Destruction of Capitalism & Democracy," on Monday, Oct. 19 at 6 p.m. in the GRW Theatre. It was also apparent he wanted to notify students that they have been inexcusably forced to "grow up corporate."
"I've never met a student or a person who doesn't have a sense of injustice," Nader said.
Point Park University President Paul Hennigan and Channa Newman, a global cultural studies professor, said one of the goals of hosting such a prominent yet unique individual like Nader is to expose students to a point of view that is often clouded by the traditions of the mainstream and to encourage civic responsibility.
"It never occurred to me that you can just go to city council meetings and courtrooms as a spectator," Dylan Grunn, a freshman broadcasting major, said. "It made me want to do that more."
"It was important for me, as far as getting more civic-minded, taking that more seriously and starting a civic group," D.J. Kingsbury, a senior psychology major, said.
He also said he was seriously considering starting a civic group in correlation with the other clubs in which he is a member.
"I thought it was really cool because I've never actually seen a political figure talk before, and I thought it was great that it was at Point Park," Kayla Stone, a freshman broadcasting major, said.
The four-time presidential candidate and consumer advocate defined a civic personality as a person who is passionate about one or two issues that they are capable of truly impacting.
An issue that Nader referenced was his first major civic endeavor of investigating and improving the safety standards of automobile manufacturers. He said he felt it was his duty to fight for safer cars after many of his friends died in preventable, yet horrendous, automobile accidents.
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