December 3, 2009 11:46AM 

# College Students to Taxpayers: ‘Rent Now, Oppressors!’ 

By [Neal McCluskey](https://www.cato.org/people/neal-mccluskey) 

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*Inside Higher Ed* [reports today ](http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/12/03/activism)on growing college student acitivism. And what are the young scholars suddenly so active about? Not unjust wars, racism, or anything else so high-minded. No, today the “[no justice, no peace](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/11/20/BAGN1AND7E.DTL)!” chants are all about the injustice of students being asked to pay for more of their [hugely taxpayer-subsidized ](https://www.cato.org/2009/10/01/lies-our-professors-tell-us/)educations.

There’s a word for this kind of activism, and it’s not “idealism” or anything else so complimentary. It’s “rent seeking.” Or, if you want to put it more bluntly, “freeloading.”

##### Related Tags 

[Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [General](https://www.cato.org/general), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) 

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