They want more regulation on the financial industry, less pressure on the middle class and an end to the undue influence massive political donations have on government. The feasibility of some of those goals isn’t as important as the willingness of people to show up in support of them.

It’s the thought that counts.

Apathy, unfortunately, has become the status quo for millennials.

It’s true this is not the 1960s and the time of Civil Rights protests, or the 1970s and protests of the Vietnam War. Those protests were social events that changed the course of our nation. That doesn’t mean there aren’t issues going on in America that should concern students to the point of peaceful protest.

Activism works a little bit differently today. Now, people post Facebook statuses or change their Twitter avatars in support of a cause. Online petitions that can be “signed” with a few quick keystrokes have tried to replace traditional boots-on-the-ground activism.

That is not always a bad thing because it makes it easier for students to back ideas they believe in. However, the ease with which students can contribute with is belied by the lowered effectiveness of the protest.

The communication of frustration associated with protests loses something when it’s done digitally. One-thousand names on a screen has less of an impact than 1,000 hand-scrawled signatures — and even less of an impact than 1,000 people standing outside a building.

The unwillingness to physically stand up for causes in addition to digital activism seems to betray a lack of passion from college students in the issues of today.

Apathy, despite what some baby boomers would tell you, is not a trait innate to today’s youth. Look no further than the recent protests in Egypt that led to the downfall of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. Those protests were keyed by college-age individuals, who used the aforementioned social networking tools to coordinate places to gather and protest.

College-age individuals in America are capable of doing the same. And since there are issues that threaten students’ values, they should be doing the same thing, merging digital protest and physical presence to create change.

The “Occupy Wall Street” movement, even if it doesn’t accomplish its stated goals, should encourage more college students to find issues for which to stand up and fight. Now is the best time when they’ll have the time to take a week or two out of their lives to protest something they feel strongly about.