The Drake Jolly Roger

Senior Willa Murphy carries a sign near City Hall at Occupy San Francisco. (Courtesy of Justas Reskevicius)

Whether you’re with them or against them, you can’t ignore the Occupy Wall Street protesters. Beginning as just an idea on the internet, the Occupy movement has become a global phenomenon.

The Occupy protesters have no specific demands, but their main message is clear: they believe that corporate influence in governments and growing economic inequality is dangerous, unjust, and should be addressed by the government.

“Their message is relevant and powerful,” said senior and Politics Club president Willa Murphy. Along with other members of the Politics Club, she attended the Occupy San Francisco protest in October.

There have already been occupations in major cities of over 80 countries (see map below), and the movement shows no signs of slowing down.

Each bulls-eye on this map marks an Occupy protest. (Courtesy of Google Maps)

It’s been nearly six months since the Adbusters Media Foundation, a Canadian activist group, first proposed a non-violent occupation of Wall Street. According to the Vancouver Courier, Adbusters suggested the idea in one of its email newsletters, and internet activists quickly latched onto the notion. On September 17, the first group of protesters moved into Zucotti Park in lower Manhattan and set up camp.

Similarly structured Occupy protests quickly began springing up in cities across the United States. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Washington D.C., and Houston all saw Occupy protests in late September or early October.
“I think it’s getting bigger and bigger, and more people are supporting it,” said Murphy.

Most of the U.S. protests have avoided violence, but there have been conflicts between some protesters and police. On October 25, members of the Oakland police force marched into the Occupy Oakland camp. Their stated intention was to remove protesters due to poor sanitation at the protest site, but a confrontation occurred and police officers began firing rubber bullets and tear gas.

Although the majority of the protesters escaped unharmed, ex-Marine and Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen, 24, was hit in the head by a police projectile. Videos of an Oakland police officer intentionally throwing a tear gas canister at the people trying to help Olsen, and of Olsen being carried from the plaza bleeding and unable to speak, quickly spread on the internet.

Olsen is currently hospitalized but expected to recover. Oakland’s mayor Jean Quan backed down on the evictions following this incident, but now Oakland police are again serving the protesters with eviction notices, raising fears of a second confrontation.

Senior Kiara Owens thinks that the violence in Oakland may be a preview of what’s to come if politicians don’t start paying attention. “The peaceful part of it is going to stop soon because they’re getting so little response,” she said. “I think Oakland is the forerunner of that trend.”

Despite the continually increasing size and spread of the Occupy protests, there has been no significant reaction yet from members of the U.S. government. Polls have shown that the U.S. public generally supports the movement, but no congressional actions have resulted from the demonstrations.

“It’s hard to believe that they’re going to get anything done because they’re not asking for anything specific,” said senior and Politics Club member Claire Asselstine. “They’re just angry. They have to say, ‘We want this to be passed.’”

Senior Justas Reskevicius, who attended Occupy San Francisco, thinks that the impact of the protests may not be felt immediately. “I think because of the protests, [economic inequality] will be a lot more relevant in the next election. It’ll come up a lot more. It’s being brought to the forefront of issues,” he said.

Murphy agreed that the movement could have a significant influence on next year’s  presidential and congressional elections. “It’s going to develop… My hope is to see Occupy candidates, just like the Tea Party had Tea Party candidates,” she said. “It’s good that this is happening.”

The music is blasting by the senior tree. Free cake is being served to cake walkers dressed in pink on Breast Cancer Awareness Day. Advisories look for markers, yarn, glitter and stickers so they can try to win the pumpkin decorating contest. Students glance between the numerous colorful posters that adorn our grey, gum stricken halls, as they pass from class to class. Leadership students, as usual, have been busy spreading their signs of spirit throughout the school.

On November 2, Leadership advisor, Kendall Galli, informed her Leadership class that their funds have dropped sufficiently, to the point that it is questionable whether they can continue their usual activities. “Leadership has no incurred ‘debt’ but in fact is short of funding due to the decrease in Pirate Package sales, which is our primary source of income,” said Kendall Galli, Leadership advisor.

During the 2006/2007 school year, 527 pirate packages were sold, which earned $52,755 for Leadership. Then 379 Pirate Packages were purchased throughout the 2009/2010 school year. The number have consistently dwindled over the years to a total of 219 packages purchased so far this year, which has raised $24,115, according to accounts of the budget office. This leaves $200 available for Winter Formal and $600 available for next year’s Homecoming Fund.

Yearbook and Leadership split the profits of the Pirate Package, since a discounted yearbook is a part of the package deal. Yearbook receives 55% of the Pirate Package profits and Leadership receives 45%. Galli said that Leadership’s lacking funds is also due to the fact that yearbook prices have remained the same for the past ten years, even though the cost of colored printing has increased.
Junior class co-president Grace Gurung reflects Leadership’s diminishing package sales over the last five years, “I think the economy is a factor, but students don’t realize how much money the Pirate Package actually saves. Students only see the initial purchase of $110, but not the long term effect of discounts throughout the year.”

The pirate package includes $20 off yearbook, $5 off each dance, free admission to sporting events other than MCALS and playoffs, and discounted admission to music events, such as Battle of the Bands. Galli said that ASB students are also convincing local vendors to make discounts and shopping perks available to students with ASB stickers on their ID cards.

Leadership’s initial reaction to Galli’s news was stress and eagerness to solve the problem. They have been busy brainstorming ideas to recover their budget, according to Leadership student junior Annie Maguire. “This year, instead of just selling Pirate Packages in the beginning of the year, we plan to continue selling them throughout the year. For our last Pancake Breakfast we sold seven [pirate packages], so we are hoping for more purchases throughout the year,” Maguire said.

Galli also acknowledges the faltering effectiveness of Pirate mail through e-mail. “Yes it is green. Yes, it is eco-friendly, but most parents ignore the school e-mails in their inbox. I believe the main contribution to the decrease of Pirate Package purchases is that it is not well advertised.” She takes responsibility for the lack communication to students and parents about the availability and importance of the Pirate Package sales.

Students admire the posters that Leadership posted by the D-SHAC

In the last e-mail Galli sent via Pirate Mail, she announced the recently added benefits to purchasing a package, including a raffle to win a permanent parking place for the basketball season and a free Winter Formal ticket.  ASB President, senior Anna Cichocki, is also writing a parent letter to be emailed home to families in the hopes of spreading awareness of the package.

The diminishing purchases over the last five years have left $200 for Winter Formal, which must be enough for a DJ, decorations and supplies. “It’s going to be hard to pull Winter Formal all together with the little that we have. We think Winter Formal is still on, but we’ll see how it turns out,” admits other junior class co-president, Carlee Murray.

Leadership’s funding is divided into budgets for each committee of Leadership, including outreach, dances and lunch activities.  Like many school organizations, students buy the supplies for their committee and are later reimbursed by the budget office. “I know a lot of students who have made small purchases for supplies and these small purchases have added up. Students usually buy the supplies themselves, and usually for cheap stuff that we don’t really need,” explained Murray. These costs add up and drain Leadership’s funds.

Leadership receives no help from parent clubs and fundraisers. Maguire believes that the Leadership students can solve and deal with adult problems. “The past year I have learned skills that could be used in a company. We learn to do receipts, budget our money and advertise events similar to the way a business would function,” Maguire stated.

The misconception that Leadership carelessly spends their unlimited budget of money was addressed by Gurung. “Students believe that we have so much money, yet this year we are close to nothing. They believe our money grows on trees and that we can just get as much as we want.”

Purchases of the packages are directly used for the Yearbook and for Leadership’s activities including all advisory and lunch activities, rally supplies,  staff appreciations, food for winning advisories, and performances of Youth Speakers such as  ‘Til’ Dawn’ and The Princeton Footnotes. Leadership also provides all art and office supplies used for publicity and events, including dances, Homecoming festivities, senior celebrations and clubs.

Maguire reveals the true hardship that Leadership endures. “Our lacking funds have made it harder for us to put on school events, but it has also forced us to become more creative and thrifty with our money. If I could hope anything, I would hope that our impact on the school does not falter.”

Leadership also tries to extend their spirit outside the school by doing the “the little things” throughout the community. “People don’t realize how much we do for the school, the little things such as the posters, the hall decorations and our outreach to the community,” said Murray. She said that in October, Leadership decorated Cedars of Marin, a home for mentally challenged people, in honor of Halloween.

Maguire says that she believes Leadership’s role is to encourage students to put themselves out there through fun activities. “Even though some people think the activities we promote are embarrassing, we do them in order to create a positive and accepting environment at school,” she said. “Since we are stuck here, we might as well make it fun and you never know what little things will make a person’s day.”

Maguire conveyed in her optimistic attitude that she is excited to see what she and her fellow Leadership members can make of their discouraging situation. “It will be interesting to see what we can come up with using our creativity. Pushing ourselves to mature quickly and become self-sufficient is great preparation for our nation’s current economy,” she conceded.

These small spirited things around our school community reflect the true mission of Leadership. Galli wrote in an email, “We do our best to make sound financial decisions in Leadership and for the last six plus years we have really made a difference in student activities at Drake [and] the overall cultural feeling on our campus. It would be very sad to have to offer ‘less’ in terms of student activities to the students of Drake.”