We love our bandwagons here at Brandeis. What better way to exercise our newfound right to vote and fresh liberal arts education than to "be active" by participating in all sorts of campaigns that spring up across campus?Just in the last week I was asked to sign three proudly drawn-up petitions: an Iraq resolution by our local Democrats For America chapter, a pledge from STAND to disinvest in the Sudanese government and a measure by our Student Union that would replace all coffee on campus with only Fair Trade coffee.

Am I a moral and upright citizen if I jump to sign these without a second thought? I think not.

It's nice to be informed about what you put your name to. Too many people hear keywords like "Iraq," "Darfur" or "Fair" and sign away, obliviously convinced that they must be supporting a good cause. I was met with indignation and surprise when I was so dastardly as to ask what exactly the Iraq petition was supporting. After several minutes of questioning the petitioner, I learned that it was a pledge to support a candidate who would make a calculated and careful attempt to pull out of Iraq with a timeline, and I gladly gave the petition my John Hancock.

Similarly, students in one of my classes rushed to disinvest in Sudan, after less than 30 seconds of explanation about from whom exactly we were disinvesting and with no reasoning as to how disinvestment might actually help the hundreds of thousands of people suffering in that region of Africa. Yet my classmates were miffed when I didn't push through the teeming mass to support a cause I had been told scarcely anything about.

The most poignant example of a mindless constituency is the upcoming petition for Fair Trade coffee. The only information widely distributed to the student body was an e-mail saying where and when to vote for the resolution. This would be fine in principle if anyone actually had a clear idea of what "Fair Trade" is. From the fliers plastered across various bathrooms, Fair Trade proponents would have you believe that it's the next best thing to cold fusion-it brings equality, peace, democracy and education to Third World nations everywhere. It seems like selling only Fair Trade coffee would be a veritable revolution for the working-class world, and who wouldn't want to support such a noble venture?

In reality, "Fair Trade" is part of a complicated economic notion that by paying more for a cup of coffee, you will somehow improve the lives of workers in other parts of the world. Without getting into too much macroeconomic theory, it is exceedingly difficult to change working conditions visibly in another country simply by changing your mode of purchasing coffee. By supporting a very narrow market (there aren't enough providers of "fair" coffee for it to be considered competitive), you may increase the welfare of a few of their employees, but ultimately take jobs away from many who cannot be hired because local wages have been driven up by white American college students who think they're improving the world.

I have no problem if individual students want to plunk down the money to support their own ideology. But a petition that would force all of us to subscribe to an economic/political theory, with no alternative but to go off-campus for our coffee, is both unfair and against much of what I hope this school stands for. I came here expecting a student body committed to political and philosophical diversity, as well as informed student participation. By gleefully signing off on something like "Fair Trade," because it sounds nice and lefty, you're stifling real debate and diversity here on campus.

The only thing worse than non-participation is ignorant participation. I'd like to make an appeal to all the various clubs and organizations, and the student government, to really make an effort to provide informed, objective information about all of their measures.
We as students have a responsibility to each other to put a few minutes of thought into our actions before we sign something that could seriously affect our peers. In that way, we can really become mature members of a democracy.