Several students gathered under the Cook Carillon Clock Tower at Grand Valley State University on Nov. 5 to show their support for the Anonymous movement, an international initiative aimed to end government corruption.

“Recently, Grand Valley made it into the news because of the pendulum stunt,” said Lindsey Baker, the lead protester. “It’s sad to me that we were known for that. It was pretty funny, but we are a community of educated individuals, and I think we can make a bigger impact.”

That bigger impact would include supporting the group Anonymous, making statements of support for whistle-blowers and standing up to corruption within the government, Baker said.

Such whistle-blowers include Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning. Snowden, a former CIA employee and NSA contractor, disclosed top-secret government surveillance programs. Manning, an army intelligence analyst, was sentenced to 35 years in prison for providing documents to WikiLeaks that exposed the killing of unarmed civilians and journalists in Iraq.

“We want to show our discontent with what’s going on and the things we are unhappy about,” Baker said.

The group Anonymous held non-violent demonstrations around the world as a part of the Million Mask March.

“This is the world we have to grow up in and become a part of,” Baker said. “We can make it whatever we want it to be. I’m trying to make it a place worth living in.”

Dan Smit, a liberal arts student at GVSU, writes songs about change, justice and the pursuit of freedom.

“I think there’s a lot of problems with our country and government,” Smit said. “An activist is a critical thinker—someone who doesn’t need an official opinion to form their own opinion, and who takes their thinking into action.”

Smit, who calls himself an activist by spirit as he hasn’t done enough to be considered an activist, was at the clock tower to educate people so that they can “make a difference.”

“I want to unify people and bring them together over like-minded ideas,” Smit said.

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