PB1A: The Petition Statement

One unique textual genre that has some relevance to our student lives at UCSB is the petition statement.  In particular, there is a student petition going around campus to stop the overwhelming police presence in Isla Vista for events such as Halloween and Deltopia.  In terms of context, a petition statement is usually written by a group, in response to a rampant problem or inconvenience, with the intention to have it solved in some way.  The typical audience of a petition statement can be broken down into different groups.  The primary audience of the petition would be the person (or group of people) with the power to change whatever the petition may describe.  In the above case, the primary audience for the student petition is Chancellor Yang.  Like this case, most petitions will directly address the primary audience in writing, although that is not always the case.  The secondary audience of the petition would be others who agree with it, and would thus push for action as a result.  In the UCSB petition, this audience consists of other students, with the intention for them to sign the petition and spread it around.  The constraints that surround a petition can sometimes make the writing tricky; typically, the language has to stay somewhat broad in order to gain signatures from a wider group of people, yet also specific enough to prompt action from those in charge.  More specifically, this forces the writer to choose their words carefully in order to gain approval from both audiences. 

The argument of a petition is similar to that of a persuasive essay, but with a few minor tweaks.  The appeal to reason (logos) in a petition normally consists of statistics and reports on past events regarding said inconvenience, and logical conclusions following these reports.  The student petition in particular goes over the current funding efforts to develop “anti-policing models” for Ferguson, and how it shifts focus away from the same issue in Isla Vista.  Perhaps the most important part of a petition’s argument is pathos, or appeal to emotion.  The use of pathos in a petition usually calls one’s morals into question, implying that those who sign the petition are making the ethical choice and doing the right thing.  The student petition does this by describing the riots of Deltopia 2014 in full detail, as well as the aftermath and the following police crackdown on Halloween 2014.  By doing this, the students are portrayed as victims to unnecessary police brutality, which is effective in causing readers to question morality.  Lastly, the appeal to character, or ethos, can be used in a petition to show the writer’s eagerness to work with those in charge to help create change.  However, it can also be used to show the writer’s stubbornness, depending on what the petition itself entails.  In particular, the student petition uses ethos to show the latter by consistently using the phrase “we demand.” In one case, this phrase is fully capitalized for extra emphasis, implying the student body means business, and will not take "no" for an answer. 

A petition statement is a unique, nuanced genre in a few different ways.  For one, while being aware of audience (that primarily being Chancellor Yang in the example), it completely disregards conventions that are typically associated with that audience; the use of harsh and demanding language, despite writing to someone in a position of power, certainly emphasizes this.  Second, it’s a persuasive work that’s written in first person plural.  While only one person may have written it (UCSB’s was made on an open Google doc), the signatures on the petition signify agreement; thus, this perspective is used to show unity for the cause at hand.  A final difference is that it has two distinct audiences that will respond differently to the petition.  For UCSB’s petition, the other students who read the petition might sign it in agreement, while Chancellor Yang might possibly implement change after reading it.