The protest that started out as a waning group of New Yorkers camped out in Zuccotti Park complaining about corporate greed in America has spread to a national movement with growing interest and support. Brought together by social media such as Twitter and Facebook the once-small group is finding substantial support from the rest of the 99 percent.

According to the New York Daily news, immediately following the weekend and the 700 arrests made by the NYPD, protests have sprung up in Boston, Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and college campuses, including ISU. College students, the often criticized apathetic generation, are providing the backbone for the large number coming together.

The group of 20-somethings have come together in protest of the poor economy they have been handed due to the lack of restraints put on Wall Street brokers and banks.

With our college debt clocks unwinding, many are just starting to realize how the political game has been rigged, and not in our favor. Corporations lobbying and politicians lining up for more money have forced the middle class to struggle to make ends meet.

With good reason, we stand behind the movement. Impressively, despite the criticism and abuse the group has received, they haven’t quit.

Unions are also making the move to fully support the Occupy Wall Street protest.

The Massachusetts Nurses Association is expecting hundreds to join in on the protests taking place in Boston this week. In New York City, the Transport Workers Union Local 100 offered shelter in the subway system for protestors. Jim Gannon, the spokesperson for the group, explained in a CNN article why he supports the protest.

“Wall Street caused the implosion in the first place and is getting away scot-free while workers, transit workers, everybody is forced to pay for their excesses,” Gannon said. “These young folks have brought a pretty bright spotlight … It’s kind of a natural alliance.”

We agree that an alliance is easy to find as the overwhelming majority of Americans can consider themselves to be in the 99 percent of those struggling to pay off student loans, medical bills, family debts or other expenses. A major point of the protest, as we’ve come to understand it, is Americans are fed up with the direction their country is headed. There has been a failure by the two-party, partisan systems to work for and listen to the voice of Americans, on top of accepting corporate greed.

Even with limited strategy and broad demands, the Occupy Wall Street protests have provided a platform for speaking out against many other issues Americans face. The problems with police brutality, the war in the Middle East, environmental issues and the view of Americans globally are all issues that have been addressed within the past month. When it comes down to it, this Editorial Board has found that the protest is calling for true change and citizen power. The growing movement shows potential to have a dramatic effect on the way business and politics are handled in America.

As college students, union workers, those struggling to live and those who haven’t yet been heard begin to stand up, many thousands are beginning to re-occupy the American public scene again.