What do you do when a college student tells you he is against gay marriage because he fears the wrath of God?
"I think something is going to happen to our nation and our state," said Victor Choban, a student at American River College.
Choban said he believes that last summer's destructive fire season was a direct result of the California Supreme Court overturning a ban on same sex-marriage in May.
"Right after the judges allowed same-sex marriage to take place against the will of the people, something horrible happened. What a coincidence. God has many ways to punish."
It would be easy to make sport of Choban or gripe about what they are teaching at ARC, especially in light of what happened last Tuesday.
Choban and seven other members of the ARC student association passed a resolution supporting Proposition 8, a Nov. 4 ballot initiative that would ban same-sex marriage.
It was a most public confrontation over what has been a surprisingly muted Prop. 8 campaign. ARC is apparently the only college campus in California to come out against gay marriage.
This being Sacramento, Choban and his allies could get the Gray Davis treatment – they might be recalled by fellow students for their provocative action this week.
"People are a little more riled up than we thought they would be," said Jacob Johnson, ARC's association president.
Hmm. They seem to teach understatement at ARC.
But they also are teaching citizenship there. The flare-up at the Carmichael campus is reflective – a kind of microcosm – of something much bigger.
To start with, you have a campus of 37,000, where only a couple of hundred truly participate and read the fine print of decisions being made around them.
There was widespread apathy until the student body got a shock to its system – a shock the majority of students never saw coming.
There was partisan anger and screaming after it was too late. There was an unpopular decision taken by suddenly unpopular elected officials.
And now, it looks like there will be a recall.
Does any of that sound familiar to you? California? America?
"This is teaching our students what happens when you don't participate," said Keltie Jones, dean of counseling and student services at ARC.
True. But it hasn't been a total loss.
Despite the intense anger expressed by some, ARC students remained peaceful. There is a new activism on campus. Passion over ideas is being expressed in a constructive way.
Democracy is a beautiful concept, but in practice it can be flawed in all the ways humans are flawed.
ARC proves that. But the students at the school also prove that democracy works.
You just have to pay attention.
Call The Bee's Marcos Bretón, (916) 321-1096.
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