In the winter of 1968, SF State was a battleground. The firing of a staff member active with the Black Panther Party ignited student unrest, then a strike, then violent clashes with police. Thousands of students participated in rallies and demonstrations and hundreds of students were arrested.

When I first heard about this chapter of SF State’s history, I immediately went to an online newspaper database to confirm that, yes, this article did refer to the same institution of higher education where I was enrolled.

I just couldn’t picture it.

You are barely awake in a class that covers the finer points of English literary analysis when you hear chanting, metal clanging and shouting voices in the street outside. A group of students comes to your classroom door and explains politely, but firmly, that in the interest of solidarity and racial equality you really need to get the hell out of the Humanities building.

Although I’ve often seen fire in the eyes of the student who has just lost a $5 bill to a malfunctioning parking permit vending machine, I can’t imagine that same student setting off an explosive device to underscore the seriousness of their political cause.

While overall this is a comfort to me, it’s also mildly disappointing. And at this point in time, it’s a little surprising.

The national backdrop against the student agitation of 1968 should look very familiar to all of us. An unpopular war, an unpopular administration, endangered and suspended civil rights and liberties, fear for the future of the natural environment—these issues are truly history repeating. Yet on the eve of national elections, campus hums along. Business as usual.

Varying analyses of the events of 1968 distilled the strike’s roots down to any number of causes. At the time, most attributed the turmoil to a militant black agenda to use the educational system to further the cause of racial equality. Researchers now cite working class frustration, jealousy of the better-funded and more prestigious Universities or even a cure for the winter doldrums for privileged white youth.

But the certainty of the events at SF State was this: as students sparred with the college administration and Governor of California Ronald Reagan, the nation watched and the nation listened.

Why, today, is the student body mute?

Last week, staffers from this paper had the chance to interview more than 400 student voters in a campus exit poll. Most of the data collected was unsurprising.

Overwhelmingly, the students polled were Democratic supporters of Barack Obama.

Also no surprise was the issue that led most respondents to their candidate choice: the war in Iraq. But there was another important issue to students almost equal to the war.

Health care. Just under 17 percent of students listed health care as the main factor in their election choice compared to the 19 percent that stated the war.

Besides casting serious doubt on the notion that young people enjoy feelings of immortality, the importance of health care security in the minds of SF State students illuminates an important common goal.

We need to remember the advantages that being part of a highly visible group of 30,000 people brings. Many of us will not have this measure of clout again in our lives.

I don’t believe that SF State has lost its passion for political and social change.

What we have lost is the strength in our numbers.