Letters to the Editor: You can still protest even if you no longer march

The day after Donald Trump was sworn in as president, millions around the globe marched in protest. When asked why I didn’t participate in any demonstration, my answer was simple: I intend to register my complaints in writing, not in steps.

Thinking that was the end of it, I began focusing my attention on my keyboard. Over the last 100 days, I have written half a dozen pieces about Trump and his cohorts. But I guess that wasn’t enough for some of my friends. They still want to know why I’m not actively protesting.

Ah, yes, protesting. I made the trek north to Berkeley from Los Angeles to march in two People’s Park demonstrations when I was an undergrad at USC. I attended the first Earth Day rally in L.A. in 1970.

And, 45 years ago this spring, when President Richard Nixon ordered the mining of Haiphong Harbor as well as other harbors and inland waterways in North Vietnam, I was among numerous lawmakers and a thousand others who gathered on the steps of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., to protest the escalation of the war in Vietnam.

Years later, I was protesting the Reagan administration. In August 1985, I was retained by the cities of San Clemente, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Huntington Beach to coordinate the fight against offshore drilling in Orange County. Even the county Board of Supervisors and the mayors of other cities joined forces with us. Our collective opposition prevailed, and, as I’ve told my three children, this was the most significant political accomplishment of my career.

I realize that just because I marched and protested decades ago it doesn’t excuse me from ever doing it again. Maybe I will. But for now, I hope my friends will appreciate how I’m protesting in 2017: Quietly but, hopefully, effectively. Even though I won’t be with you in the streets, I am with you in spirit. I hear your voices every time I sit down to write a piece.

Denny Freidenrich

Laguna Beach

Don’t donate to colleges with outspoken professors

A Fresno State professor recently tweeted President Trump “must hang.” We had an Orange Coast College professor call Trump a “terrorist,” and receive a teacher of the year award, no less. A spokeswoman from Washington, D.C., public schools wants to “get rid of white men.” We had a Drexel University Professor tweet “all he wants for Christmas is for white genocide.”

The pattern of intolerant, radical comments from professors, who have become, for lack of a better word, unhinged, should give pause to any parent and donor spending thousands of dollars toward these colleges. Conservative speakers have been essentially banned from some college campuses because it makes some students feel unsafe.

Disagreeing with a president goes back to our founding fathers. Today, the level of hate and intolerance from professors and educators throughout our country has reached a boiling point. Until donations stop hitting these colleges and colleges start condemning this behavior, it can only get worse.

Trump’s promise to control illegal immigration is no excuse for this barbaric, inexcusable behavior from those we count on to educate our kids. The only way this message will be felt is through the almighty dollar, and by those of us who can control where we send our kids to school. Differing points of few are critical in a democracy; the behavior exhibited by a number of college professors is troubling and inexcusable.

Juli Hayden

Newport Beach

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