Students should be more involved in activism because of the potential it has for change. On Mar. 2, a group of students from Syracuse University traveled to Washington, D.C. to participate in one of the largest student protests in recent years, and should be commended for their actions.

More than 1,000 students from hundreds of universities arrived in Washington, D.C. to protest President Barack Obama’s unexpected support for the Keystone XL pipeline, a proposed pipeline that would run between northern Canada and the Gulf Coast. The effects of this pipeline would be detrimental to the environment as it causes even more pollution by extracting fossil fuels from tar sands.

At the protest, police arrested 398 people, from schools including Columbia University, Princeton University, Georgetown University and Brown University. Though none of the 13 SU students at the protest were arrested, it is a positive sign that the SU campus was represented among the many schools there. It shows that SU students are invested in major environmental issues and can make their presence known.

In today’s generation, people are quick to consider themselves activists when they turn to social media. Students need to be more proactive to have their voices heard, much like the 13 students from SU that traveled more than 300 miles to the nation’s capital right before midterms.  True change does not come from sitting at a computer desk, and students should recognize the potential effect they can have by protesting.

Historically, student protests have been able to influence decisions. Recently, SU joined in on an intercollegiate protest against Adidas, with the United Students Against Sweatshop organization leading the charge. SU’s chapter of USAS started in February, and within three months, Adidas agreed to USAS’s demanded changes, as a result of the pressure from universities like SU. Students should not be indifferent to activism — there can be change as a result of protest.

The group of SU students that traveled to Washington, D.C. is planning to protest the pipeline again in April. It should use the momentum it garnered from this recent protest to further increase the amount of students participating. There should be more demonstrations on SU’s own campus to raise awareness of the issue and recruit more students to join the cause.

Students have the potential to create change by participating in activism. There will be an opportunity for change in April, and SU students should take advantage of this by joining this intercollegiate movement.