Freedom of speech never seemed as apparent on California State University, Fresno’s campus as it did at Wednesday’s walkout.

Students, faculty and staff joined forces to display their semester-long frustrations over students’ 30 percent fee increase, faculty furloughs, cancelled class sections and employee terminations.

I must admit the beating drums, the roaring chants and the marching rally made me feel a rush of adrenaline and pride. Never before had I been witness to such an event created to promote awareness that will, hopefully, lead to revision of the current CSU system.

It reinstated the notion that when people unite for a cause, the power in numbers is undeniable. As one walkout poster stated, “If not you, then who? If not now, then when?”

Too often criticism derives from the public’s inability to act on complaints. It is one thing to talk about issues you disapprove of and another to actually take the initiative to fight for them. Those who disagree with the underlying reasons surrounding the walkout claim it did nothing to change things, I would argue otherwise.

Yes, there will be no refund and perhaps no immediate reform, but it did give voice to a normally unrepresented group of people. The amount of attention given to the walkout might show the administration, deciding the fate of our future, that Fresno State students and employees are willing to organize and protest against practices they believe are unfair and unjust.

Participants filled the campus with a feeling of activism, especially alongside the statues of historical icons residing in the Peace Garden. The setting was ideal, taking the principles possessed and displayed by those leaders, which added to the movement to push for reform.

With the first drum beat my anticipation fluttered as I realized the long awaited demonstration was really taking place. Of course, my strong desire to join in on the activism protest was loudly overridden by the presence of a midterm. So I listened to the students march down the halls and then went out later to see the large group rallied by the library.

For the first time I was moved to be on a college campus where voicing one’s opinion was not merely a suggestion but an actual event. It was not a lecture discussed in a classroom, it was a demonstration taking place on our campus.

Whether you agree with the walkout or not is, and will continue to be, a much debated issue. The fact is that a community of college students, faculty and staff organized and peacefully rallied to protest issues they felt could have been handled differently by those in power.

In true democratic fashion they were standing up against an administration they felt no longer acted with the college population’s best interest in mind, and instead of incessantly complaining they actually did something about it.