This isn’t your parents’ activism.

Last week, Andrew Meyer, a University of Florida junior, stood up at a campus forum in Gainesville hosting 2004 presidential candidate and U.S. Senator John Kerry. He thanked the Senator for his time, for “being open and honest,” recommended the book Armed Madhouse by Greg Palast, raised the question of disenfranchised voters in Florida and Ohio, asked why Kerry conceded the 2004 election, called for the impeachment of President Bush and asked if Sen. Kerry was a member of the Yale secret society Skull and Bones. After Meyer’s allotted one minute was up, he was dragged away from the microphone, kicking, screaming and “resisting arrest.” Meyer continued resisting the campus police officers and was eventually forced to the ground, shouting “don’t Tase me, bro!” before being shocked by a Taser. The rowdy scene immediately erupted into a series of Meyer’s whimpered “ows.”

Was I there myself? No. Is this account the result of up-to-the-minute, in-person, in-depth reporting from Gainesville? No. Like many of America’s college students, I watched the now-infamous incident unfold on YouTube while sitting in a university library.

A college student raising big questions publicly about American government and conspiracy theories? Traditionally considered activism. But that student raising those questions for the cameras and video-sharing websites everywhere — is this activism, entertainment or some 21st-century hybrid of both?

The true intentions of Meyer’s questioning are now being debated in the public forum — he was clearly being obnoxious to some degree, but was it with the intent of awareness-raising or of publicity-raising? Let’s assume Meyer wanted to spark a productive dialogue (Senator Kerry has stated in response to the incident that he regretted “enormously that a good healthy discussion was interrupted”) about the 2004 election and President Bush’s time in office. Did he consider a dramatic staging of his questions the most effective means of capturing U.F.’s, and the world’s, attention? The media has reported that Meyer has a reputation, and a website as evidence, of being a prankster. Some say that discredits his actions as a pure publicity stunt. In a political culture where comedic entertainment and the state of world affairs are so intertwined that they are virtually indistinguishable from one another (think Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report and Borat), however, Andrew Meyer can not be so easily dismissed.

In honor of the anniversary of September 11th two weeks ago, The Sun stated in an editorial entitled “The New Age of Activism”: “Youth activism is far from dead. Instead, it has transformed from sensationalized 1960s tear-gas rallies to online petitions and Internet discussion boards. Although this new wave of activism may be construed as passive, it is often highly effective in mobilizing individuals across geographic and cultural lines.” In accordance with this trend, Meyer has actively generated a discussion on national news networks and in classrooms not only about his voiced concerns, but also conversations about free speech and the appropriate use of force on college campuses. Consideration and debate of these topics are essential for the fulfillment of, as U.F. President J. Bernard Machen put it, “one of the most vital roles of an institution of higher learning ... a healthy exchange of ideas.”

Whether or not Andrew Meyer disturbed the “healthy exchange of ideas” with righteous intentions in Gainesville last week, the University of Florida Police Department’s usage of a Taser on the student raises questions on the appropriate use of force by campus security. This issue is omnipresent on college campuses, as seen last fall at the University of California at Los Angeles, when a student was repeatedly shocked with a Taser in a university library, and reaches back to the Vietnam War-era when tear gas was used at campus rallies.

After two newsworthy campus Taser incidents within less than a year, this is a subject that deserves attention and debate on college campuses around the country. The Cornell community as a whole should be engaging in a discussion about Cornell Police protocol in similar situations. If the entire community is informed of the outcome of a proactive conversation, the shock and awe of the UCLA and U.F. incidents can be avoided on our own campus.

As Raymond Thrower, president of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, stated in Inside Higher Ed on Sept. 20, “If you’re a college, what you have to do is look at the totality of the circumstances at hand … You can’t base your policies on one incident.” Individual campuses must weigh their specific security needs and consider how law enforcement factors into the creation and preservation of an environment of the free flow and exchange of ideas.

Student activism has always been an integral part of a college community’s progressive and open intellectual environment. As the definition and face of activism evolves, it is the responsibility of the entire college community to ensure the other parts that maintain and secure that environment keep up with the times.

Elana Beale is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences. She can be contacted at ebeale@cornellsun.com. Slope Song appears alternate Mondays.