College students around the United States and other nations have been protesting on university campuses — sometimes violently — as the spring semester draws to a close in support of the Palestinian cause in the Gaza-Israeli war.
University of Wyoming saw a peaceful Gaza-related protest involving about 40 people last week, the university’s spokesman confirmed to Cowboy State Daily.
But that’s about it for campus activity reacting to the Middle East war. In at least three trade schools in Wyoming, the idea of their students tenting out and protesting for hours or days is not only unheard of, it’s a little bizarre.
“There has not been a mention of a protest in any of our 30 campuses across the United States,” Mike Smith, director of Sage Truck Driving School in Cheyenne, told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.
Most of the school’s students are the same age as traditional college students, but they have a different life setup. They don’t live together on campus, they come to campus for training alone, and they’re focused on learning their trade so they can build a livelihood, Smith said.
“These are conservative folks, they’re blue-collar, they’re trying to take care of their families,” he said. “They come here to better themselves, not make a political statement.”
Even if the students organized a tent-out, the school wouldn’t allow it because there are new drivers rumbling around in 18-wheelers on campus.
“You don’t get in front of all these semis and kids that are learning how to drive,” Smith said.
But in public spaces where newbie truckers aren’t driving about, Smith said he supports people’s right to protest peacefully, in a way that doesn’t infringe on others’ rights.
Baby Electricians
At Wyoming Joint Electrical in Casper, the in-house schooling is intermittent, training director Brenda Morgan told Cowboy State Daily.
Students go out and do their on-the-job training, and they visit the school’s Casper campus one full week at a time, six times per academic year. They can stay in school-provided apartments off-campus, but many live in their own homes, she said.
“We don’t have that similar college vibe where you’ve got the dorms across the street and the student union in the same area,” said Morgan, adding that this arrangement probably prevents the kind of prolonged gatherings that would yield a political student protest.
The students are busy all the time and “they want to become electricians really bad,” she said.
At the Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Union in Cheyenne, students learning their trades are more focused on working and completing their programs than soicial and political issues. (Courtesy Dan Meyer, Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Union) 
At the Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Union in Cheyenne, students learning their trades are more focused on working and completing their programs than soicial and political issues. (Courtesy Dan Meyer, Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Union) 
At the Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Union in Cheyenne, students learning their trades are more focused on working and completing their programs than soicial and political issues. (Courtesy Dan Meyer, Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Union) 
At the Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Union in Cheyenne, students learning their trades are more focused on working and completing their programs than soicial and political issues. (Courtesy Dan Meyer, Plumbers and Pipe Fitters Union)
Plumbers And Pipe Fitters
The Plumbers and Pipe Fitters union in Cheyenne also has goal-focused classes of students who are about the same age as traditional college students, Dan Meyer, training facilitator, told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday.
“They’re working full-time and going to school, and a lot of them have families,” said Meyer. “They have their own sets of issues and things they’re dealing with, and they don’t have time to get involved with something not directly involved with them.”
Also, since the union trade school is teaching more tangibly practical skills — not philosophy or political theory — the students aren’t cultivating as much philosophical or political unrest while at school, Meyer said.
Many of these students have also been to college, but they haven’t brought up the Palestinian issues at all that he’s heard, Meyer added.
Meyer couldn’t resist putting in a plug for the organization, saying Wyoming needs tradespeople, and a union apprenticeship is a “fantastic way to start a career” with many benefits, and a tendency to yield a “career rather than a job.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
