As winter blew into northwest Arkansas, Fayetteville city officials blew out Occupy Fayetteville’s small encampment in the town square. Although many Occupy camps across the country faced eviction, for the most devout members of the Occupy movement, evictions were only a minor setback.

A strong believer in the Occupy movement, UA student Abel Tomlinson carried the hot-button issue of corporate personhood all the way to the Occupy State Convention in Little Rock.

“[Corporate personhood is] an issue on top of the agenda of Occupy Wall Street,” he said. “I personally feel it’s the most important issue.”

The history of the judiciary branch granting corporations constitutional rights dates back centuries, Tomlinson said. Citizens United, the most recent case of corporate personhood, has been at the forefront of many national debates.

“The courts were the scene of the crime,” he said. “It’s an issue that wasn’t voted on by the people, it wasn’t voted on by the congress, it was done by the Supreme Court, who is appointed.”

Grant Hodges, president of UA College Republicans, agreed with some of the Supreme Court’s rulings giving certain rights to corporations, including the 1886 Santa Clara v. Southern Pacific Railroad case applying the 14th amendment to corporations.

“The precedent for calling corporations people isn’t new, but this campaign finance issue is,” Hodges said.

The Supreme Court’s 5-4 ruling that the government should play no role in restricting a corporation’s political speech gave birth to a flood of corporate influence in the 2010 mid-term elections. This influence arrived in the form of “Super-PACS,” and has already affected the ongoing presidential primaries.

For example, after strong debate performances in late November, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich surged to 33% in an Iowa poll, outpacing former Governor Mitt Romney. After the surge, a pro-Romney Super-PAC unloaded $2.7 million on negative advertising in the state, according to Real Clear Politics.

As the money flooded in, Gingrich’s poll numbers plummeted and he finished fourth place in the caucuses.

Gingrich regained his footing after a pro-Gingrich Super-PAC spent $1.6 million in South Carolina, according the the Associated Press. Buoyed by a pair of strong debate performances, he won the primary.

“I personally despise Super-PACS,” Hodges said. “I hate how by and large they don’t have to disclose donors. I think most people agree that you should have to disclose the people that are donating money.”

Though most donors go undisclosed until after elections, billionaire Sheldon Adelson’s $5 million donation to a pro-Gingrich Super-PAC was made public.

It’s also important to note that some conservatives feel money should equal free speech, Hodges said.

However, “I’m writing about how terrible it is that one person can single-handedly finance a presidential campaign,” he said. “I just don’t think it’s healthy for democracy when one person has the ability to basically drown out everyone else’s voice in an election.”

Just as both major political parties plan on raising record amounts of money this year, 80 percent of Republicans, Democrats, and independents opposed unlimited campaign contributions, according to a 2010 ABC News-Washington Post poll.

“Citizens understand how money can corrupt elections,” Tomlinson said. “It’s a really unifying issue that cuts across party lines.”

“This movement is gaining steam and spreading like wildfire,” Tomlinson said.

Attesting to Tomlinson’s statement, dozens of cities, colleges, unions and political organizations have passed Move to Amend’s resolution denouncing corporate personhood, according to the organization’s website.

While Hodges wants restrictions on campaign contributions, he does not support Move to Amend’s resolution.

“I might support limiting [corporation’s] rights from contributing to campaigns, but I wouldn’t support taking away all their rights,” he said.

The resolution states that “privileges” awarded to “artificial entities” by government should not be mixed up with inherent, inalienable rights.

“Once we have multiple cities on board, then we would try to pass a state resolution. Once we have states and cities that pass it, the ultimate goal is to amend the U.S. constitution,” Tomlinson said.

“We want to amend the constitution to say that natural persons, only living, breathing humans like you and I deserve constitutional rights.”