By Allie Grasgreen
For the college Occupy movement, the past couple of months have been largely quiet – the attention-grabbing marches and rallies have fizzled, encampments have closed, and there has been no pepper-spraying or baton-swinging to speak of.
But students say quietness does not equal dormancy, and today they’ll be out to prove it in a national “Day of Action.”
“Students are still working, but just because they haven’t seen all of us out in the streets every day, they think that it’s over,” said Caitlin MacLaren, a New York University student and organizer at Occupy Education, a network of occupations and student and faculty groups that are coordinating the Day of Action. “People will see that it’s just kind of a winter lull, and people are just hibernating a little bit.”
During this down time, students on campuses spanning California to Florida have been discussing the “next phase” of the movement, which Occupy Education says will begin today. More than 100 campus occupations and education and labor groups have told Occupy Education they will take part, but, as previous events have shown, many who participate do so informally. Expected student turnout is in the hundreds for many colleges; on many campuses, rallies or teach-ins are planned.
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