Social media is a wonderful way to spread the word around social issues but social change takes more than butts in seats – it takes feet on the streets.

The world has seen the power of social media as a way to organize protesters in the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. However, clicking ‘like’ and ‘share’ was not enough for their revolution – it was just a starting place.

This is why I feel jaded on occasion; disappointed and frustrated when people that have issues with institutions do nothing more than point-and-click and go back to sleep.

This can be true for students too. Tuition has been on the rise, class sizes have been getting larger, and access to tenured faculty has been decreasing.

Organizations like the Student Senate for California Community Colleges and California State Student Association do provide opportunities for student voices to be heard at the state level. But students need to be there to be heard.

I’m not advocating any sort of riot; a protest is an organized and peaceful demonstration. But it is a tool that students should use even if it is just the lawn in front of Kendall Hall.

Joseph Rogers can be reached at [email protected] or @JosephLRogers1 on Twitter.