Editorial | Protests and privilege

In the month since Occupy Wall Street demonstrators began their protest, similar occupations have spread throughout the world. Occupy Philadelphia, now two weeks old, is one of almost 1,000 such protests that express a populist disdain for economic inequality and corporate greed.

What the protesters’ rallying cry of “We are the 99 percent” makes clear is that they have become frustrated with the growing divide between the middle and lower classes and the wealthy elite.

Many of the protesters are young people who believe that social and economic inequities restrict them from fair opportunities for employment. Fittingly, the Occupy movement has spilled over to college campuses nationwide. Penn students, too, are involving themselves in Occupy Philadelphia, and almost 100 Penn professors have signed a statement of solidarity.

Friday, demonstrators will take part in a march to “Occupy Eric Cantor,” in which they will protest an appearance by the United States House of Representatives majority leader at Huntsman Hall. The event is sure to highlight the contrast between the grievances of the protesters and the setting — the Wharton School, considered to be a breeding ground for the future 1 percent.

Whether or not you support the Occupy movement or condemn its ideals or methods, there are some essential lessons to be learned from these protests. By virtue of attending an Ivy League university, Penn students — regardless of their backgrounds — are in positions of privilege and benefit from educational and vocational opportunities that are not available to most. We have access to resources that are unattainable or even unimaginable to the majority of Americans.

The Occupy movement compels us to confront the meaning of this privilege. What will we do with the elite education we are given? How will we better the world? How will we address the growing income gap and corporate influence over government that the Occupy protesters are rallying against? For those of us who will get a job on Wall Street (and there will be quite a few), how can we improve the culture of the financial industry in which so many Americans find fault? These are the duties that come with our education, the obligations tied to our privilege.

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