The kids aren't alright: Milwaukee's college students stick it to the man

With spring fast approaching, it’s inevitable that a young man’s (or lady’s) fancy turn to thoughts of love and baseball. Or, in Milwaukee’s case, clandestine bike polo matches and stickin’ it to the man. Late last week, the Journal Sentinel reported on a group of embattled bike polo players who scored a surprising legal victory in Milwaukee County Court. The “mallet-wielding defendants” had been arrested last January after being caught playing an O’Donnell Park parking garage. Tickets were issued, and the 11 players were charged with trespassing. On Friday, thanks to a lawyer who took on the group’s case pro bono, officials agreed to amend those charges and drop the fines, provided the players work with the sheriff’s and park departments in order to find a legal, permanent play space. According to the Milwaukee Bike Polo Club’s blog, another court appearance is scheduled for May 19, at which time the Journal Sentinel can once again asses the “intensity of their high-fives.”

Meanwhile, in the rarefied, increasingly expensive halls of academia, students at UW-Milwaukee followed the sage advice of Twisted Sister and decided to not take it anymore. Last Thursday, a group called Milwaukee Students for a Democratic Society staged a demonstration that was covered by nearly all local media. Some 200 students gathered outside Chancellor Carlos Santiago’s Chapman Hall office, demanding to speak to him about recent tuition hikes. Shockingly, the chancellor didn’t seem too keen on hanging out with an angry mob, and university police were called. Accounts of the demonstration diverge at this point: Police claim protesters turned violent, kicking officers and throwing ice chunks, while SDS Milwaukee claim police began to attack the protesters unprovoked. In the end, 16 students were arrested. According to their predictably hyperbolic website, the Milwaukee SDS is now demanding a meeting with the chancellor, an apology from the university’s police chief, and the dismissal of all charges against the “Milwaukee 16.” Might we suggest the lawyer who helped the bike polo dudes?

While The A.V. Club prefers to remain neutral in such contentious matters, it’s nevertheless heartening to see the return of some previously absent student activism. Perhaps last week’s fracas will eventually give way to a calm, constructive discourse on the subject of the higher education’s ever-increasing cost. Or, judging from the comments on the Journal Sentinel site, a lot of hot air and never-ending variations on “Get a job, you entitled hippies!”

Some of our favorites:

brew crew jake: “kick them all out of school and put them in jail. our future looks dimmer and dimmer with these dimwits acting like they are 60’s hippies!”

mvpbraun: “Good. Kick them out of school and then we shall see where these upstanding individuals end up.”

tasteeheart: “these kids should put as much energy into their classes as they do into looking like a bunch of idiots”

lutefisk: “Try Bongos and poetry next time.”

Feel free to add your own comments—or bongo-accompanied poetry—below.