University needs activists, and vice-versa

As defined by Bertrand Russell: “Education should have two objects: first, to give definite knowledge, reading and writing, language and writing, and so on; secondly, to create those mental habits which will enable people to acquire knowledge and form sound judgments for themselves.”
Both teachers and students want Chula to reach its full potential in developing our country, through its students and faculty – much, as, say, my father, University of Chicago Booth MBA 1942, later founded both Chula’s Department of Statistics and our National Statistical Office.
Chula needs activists because students are any university’s main product. Activists committed to peaceful, logic-driven change can multiply faculty productivity by working jointly to develop new frontiers of knowledge. Simultaneously, activists need Chula, because it has one of our topmost faculties to guide them and be sounding boards for their ideas.
For example, at Chicago Booth, my friends and I engaged in many delightful hours with, say, professors George Stigler and Merton Miller, asking anything under the sun. An outstanding characteristic of the Chicago faculty was their intellectual humility – even though George and Mert later won Nobel prizess, as did other professors. Teachers heartily encouraged questions and contrary opinions, for they knew that to advance, one had to push the envelope – and they themselves learned from us. They saw their mission as being to teach us how to think – not what to think. 
As an example of this collaboration to enable students to “acquire knowledge and form sound judgements for themselves”, at one time, the US was swept by anti-Communist fervour. A University of Chicago student organisation invited the Communist Party of America to speak, causing a firestorm of demands that the invitation be withdrawn – for, critics said, how could we give such an “evil”, “anti-American” organisation an opportunity to mislead us? 
After much non-violent but often emotion-laden discussion, the event was carried out on campus, peacefully – for we recognised that, as James Madison said: “A popular government without popular information, or the means of acquiring it, is but a prologue to a farce or a tragedy; or, perhaps, both. A people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”
Activists can help identify and, together with faculty, research key areas needing reform, and debate issues like: how to reform education, so we teach how to think, not what to think?
What can we learn from Thaksin’s 2001 asset concealment trial, where he said that he’d “forgotten” that he had massive assets parked with his maids and drivers, thus reducing his tax liability – and he walked free? What can we learn from the Red Bull heir case, where he confessed to the hit-and-run killing of a cop, yet prosecution has been so slow that statutes of limitations for some charges have expired? 
With elections promised “soon”, what are the visions and strategies of the various parties? 
By working hand-in-glove, both Chula and the activists can get an enduring win-win, and, more importantly, so can the nation as a whole.
Burin Kantabutra