It’s October. Leaves and temperatures are falling, it snowed yesterday morning, and Target is already playing Christmas music.

But the beginning of October means something else besides Christmas tree displays in department stores: Sept. 29 has come and gone.

I’m not sure how meaningful the date Sept. 29 is to the majority of students these days. Most students weren’t here yet when Old Botany Hall was rechristened Catt Hall, and to about half the undergraduates on campus, the name Milton McGriff means nothing.

I wasn’t here in 1995, when the issue of Carrie Chapman Catt’s racism was first brought to light. I wasn’t here in 1996, when 100 students and faculty marched from the library to Catt Hall to protest the name, or when Blue Maas and Phyllis Harris covered their bricks in front of the building in protest of Catt.

But I was here when 200 people protested in Beardshear. I was here during Allan Nosworthy’s hunger strike. And I was here when Nosworthy, McGriff and Meron Wondwosen were arrested in President Jischke’s office.

The members of the Movement are all gone now. They’ve graduated and moved on to other cities and other causes.

I miss them.

I didn’t agree with The September 29th Movement or many of its moves. Tactics such as Nosworthy’s hunger strike are no better than the university administration’s “Dry Veishea” ultimatum. And I still believe Carrie Chapman Catt’s accomplishments outweigh her faults.

But if Iowa State University is to be “The Best Land Grant Institution in the Nation,” there must be more students like Milton McGriff and Meron Wondwosen.

There must be more students who believe in something and are willing to fight for it — students who are ready to go up against the administration instead of just sitting back and letting things go.

And if members of the administration want this university to be the best it can be, they should encourage activism like that of the Movement.

The way the administration treated the Movement was deplorable. Take the Beardshear Hall rally of 1996, for example. According to members of the Movement, students were lied to about consequences of the Beardshear rally, unfairly disciplined because of their name recognition and then denied open hearings.

The way the administration dealt with that incident and many others was ridiculous, and it showed a lack of understanding of the importance of vocal students.

Students like Milt and Meron will only improve the campus climate. They will get other students thinking, and they will initiate open and intelligent discussion, which is lacking at Iowa State. Severely.

The members of the Movement graduated and left, so the university was allowed to ignore the problem of Catt Hall and let it just go away. But the Movement still did something remarkable to this campus and its students.

It woke them up.

It’s no secret that campus activism has been lacking lately, not just at Iowa State but across the country as well. Students just don’t care as much any more, and with no dramatic events to protest, such as the Vietnam War, we’ve all been lulled into a sense of apathy and indifference.

But this is college! This is the time when we’re supposed to be pushing the limits — expanding our minds and railing against injustice.

No, this university isn’t that bad. There’s nothing here that we can’t deal with, nothing that makes it impossible for us to continue getting by.

But there is no reason that we should just “get by.”

There are plenty of things on this campus to rail about.

For instance, why does the university think there needs to be a designated “Free Speech Zone”? Shouldn’t all of this campus be open to free speech?

Or why don’t students have better seating at basketball or football games? Why are well-to-do alumni treated with much more esteem than students?

And why does the university administration get to decide whether of-age students can drink during Veishea? I don’t have a problem with an alcohol-free Veishea, but don’t try to tell me that this decision was anyone else’s but President Jischke’s.

These issues are not as life-impacting as Vietnam, but they are a sign of a greater problem on this campus. The administration does not treat students as the most important group of people at this institution, and administrators do not respect student opinion.

That attitude will not change until students find their voices and make themselves heard. Make no mistake about it.

So, get off your couches and tell the administration what you think. If you want Veishea the way it was, let them know. If you want better seating at basketball games, let them know. Hey, even if you want Catt Hall to be renamed, let the administration know.

Let that be the legacy of The September 29th Movement.

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Sara Ziegler is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Sioux Falls, S.D. She is editor in chief of the Daily.