Category: Student Movement

Gainesville, FL – On Oct. 17, student activists at the University of Florida (UF) officially launched their tuition equity campaign by having a demonstration at Tigert Hall, the University of Florida’s administration building. Around 40 students gathered in front of Tigert Hall to demand in-state tuition for undocumented students who have graduated from Florida high schools. The delegation made speeches calling for the university to implement DACA (the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals process) at UF and live up to its claim of being a flagship university and open the door to undocumented students.

Protesters held signs like, “No Gator is illegal,” and “Tuition equity for all.” UF student Conor Munro, an organizer with Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), said, “We can’t wait for the same Florida legislature who has for years tabled tuition equity bills and continually cuts funding to higher education. We must be the example to the legislature by demanding and implementing tuition equity at the UF which our board of trustees can do as seen with FIU this past summer. ”

At the event chants rang out of “¡El pueblo unido, jamás será vencido!” and “What do we want? Tuition Equity! When do we want it? Now!” Student after student, including undocumented students, gave testimony on why implementing tuition equity at the university was the just thing to do.

Filipino student Chrisley Carpio, an organizer with SDS, said, “Undocumented students are told in high school that they can work hard and earn their way up, but that hope is shut down as soon as they graduate. The university can’t posit itself as accepting the brightest minds when a community of people are being excluded from its doors because of exorbitant out of state fees.”

Students for a Democratic Society organized the campaign in response to the growing demand from the undocumented community on campus and the recent implementation of DACA by Florida International University. The event had support from an host of organizations like CHISPAS (an immigrants rights group), Institute of Hispanic-Latino Cultures, Hispanic Students Association, Students for Justice in Palestine and the Graduate Assistants United.

After the round of speeches concluded, the administration sent their spokesperson Jeanna Mastrodicasa, who agreed to student’s demands of a meeting concerning tuition equity for undocumented students. University of Florida SDS plans on hosting events in the future with the goal of getting their board of trustees to put tuition equity on the agenda and implement it at the university.

Clarksville, TN – Over 100 student activists from across the country convened here the weekend of Oct. 12-13 to participate in Students for a Democratic Society’s (SDS) 8th annual National Convention. This year’s convention included a diversity of topics which included organizing to stop the U.S. war on Syria and fighting for affordable education. Of great importance this year was the participation of anti-war leader and International Action Center co-founder Sara Flounders and political hip-hop group Rebel Diaz.

Workshops at the SDS convention are one of the easiest ways for members of SDS and other participating organizations to talk about the successes and challenges of the work they are doing on their campuses and in their communities. This year, there were nearly 20 workshops highlighting important work and issues happening on campuses. Topics included opposing U.S. drones and U.S. war, student organizing and avoiding the perils of student government, combating male chauvinism and rape on campus, “Beyond Student Organizing: Graduation and Continuing The Struggle,” solidarity with Korea against U.S. war and occupation, and many others.

Marisol Marquez, an SDSer from Tampa Bay, Florida, describes one workshop, “The ‘Tuition Equity for Undocumented Students’ workshop by Gainesville SDS as very inspiring. To know SDS is against wars but also stands for undocumented immigrants is something I have never heard or seen by any other national student group. We fight for full equality for the good of all and we are led by the best youth in the country.”

One of the highlights of the convention for many attendees was hearing Sara Flounders speak about her experiences traveling to countries caught in the crosshairs of U.S. imperialism. Flounders, of the International Action Center, is a writer for Workers World newspaper, and a longtime anti-war leader. Recently, Flounders had the opportunity to travel to Syria and see the death and destruction caused by the U.S.-sponsored Free Syrian Army. She spoke of the importance of U.S. anti-war activists traveling to countries under attack by U.S. imperialism as an act of resistance from the left. She raised the importance of self-determination for the Syrian people – that it should be the Syrians, not the U.S. imperialists, who determine the future of Syria. She also pointed out many contradictions between the countries the U.S. decides to attack and our own system. For instance, Flounders pointed out that in Syria, housing, education and healthcare were not treated as commodities, but rather as a right of the Syrian people. She continued that U.S. citizens do not have these essential rights, and if the U.S. succeeds in overthrowing the Syria government, likely the first things to go would be these public goods that we are fighting for here at home.

Rebel Diaz hosted a workshop called “Hip Hop and Immigration” and performed on campus Saturday night. Rebel Diaz is a political hip-hop group founded in Chicago, but now based in the South Bronx of New York. Chilean brothers Rodstarz and G1 of Rebel Diaz perform at many activist events, from the 2006 immigrant rights mega marches in New York to the NATO protests in Chicago last May 2013. In their workshop, Rebel Diaz gave a history of hip-hop and showed how its very foundation was a result of immigration in New York. Through this, Rebel Diaz makes the case that all hip-hop artists have a responsibility to also take a stand for immigration rights in this country and internationally. Rebel Diaz’s work around education rights and radical politics plays out in their work as musicians as well as founders of the Rebel Diaz Arts Collective in the South Bronx, http://rdacbx.blogspot.com.

Finally, at the end of the convention SDSers met to debate and vote on resolutions that guide SDS chapters around areas of primary concern for the upcoming year. Those resolutions include continuing the fight for education rights, demand an end to U.S. wars and war threats, end political repression and spying on activists, endorse the ongoing national campaign for immigrant rights (Legalization 4 All), end the targeted repression of black and brown youth by law enforcement and vigilantes, and most happily, recognize U.S. political prisoner and people’s lawyer Lynne Stewart, currently demanding compassionate release to fight a deadly cancer, with an honorary membership in SDS. These resolutions can be read online at www.newsds.org.

In all, SDSers felt excited and motivated about the work that continues to happen. Matthew Boynton of the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities SDS chapter expressed, “The SDS convention this year did a great job integrating student activism into a broader analysis of imperialism, racist war and capitalism. The work to make these connections is particularly useful for younger activists and new SDS members, and an important reminder for all student activists.”

Jacksonville, FL – The Civil War may have ended in 1865, but people in Jacksonville continue to struggle against the remains of the racist Confederate States of America in 2013. With more than 157,000 petitions signed and growing mass pressure on the Duval County School Board, community activists are waging a campaign to rename Nathan Bedford Forrest High School.

Forrest High School is named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

Spearheaded by the Jacksonville Progressive Coalition (JPC), the campaign to rename Forrest High School hopes to deal another blow against racism and the national oppression of African Americans in the South.

“I think the Forrest issue is important to Jacksonville in a few ways,” said Mike Stovall, a lead organizer with the JPC and one of the architects of the rename campaign. “One, it’s a homegrown reaction to a history of subtle racism in this town – the hate under the polite exterior, as it were.” Stovall continued, “Part of what we are fighting is ignorance of, and the historical revision of, history.”

The history Stovall refers to is important. Originally named Valhalla High School, the name was changed to Forrest High School in 1959. The Daughters of the Confederacy initiated the name change as a racist stunt to protest the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education, which desegregated all-white schools throughout the country.

The name Nathan Bedford Forrest is a blunt reminder of racist hatred, violence and terror. Forrest was a brutal slave trader, ordered the infamous Fort Pillow Massacre, and led the KKK. At Fort Pillow, Forrest’s troops executed hundreds of captured and surrendering Union soldiers, most of whom were African American, which Forrest bragged about in his military dispatches. The Daughters of the Confederacy chose the name to intimidate courageous African American civil rights activists, many of them teenagers, struggling for freedom.

When Forrest High School opened in 1959, it was an all-white, segregated school. Today, 54% of the school’s approximately 1800 students are African-American.

“I don’t think we can talk about this fight and not talk about current and future students,” said Stovallm, “and about the entirely different message that the city is sending to those kids.”

Started in late July, the campaign to rename Forrest High School draws greater community support by the day. A petition started by Jacksonville activist Omotayo Richmond on Change.org on Aug. 4 of this year reached over 157,000 at the time of writing. More than 50 Jacksonville residents attended a Duval County School Board forum on Oct. 3 to demand a new name for Forrest High School. JPC organizers have attended local events, like Art Walk in downtown Jacksonville and canvassed neighborhoods around Forrest, collecting surveys about the name, which they intend to present to the school board.

“We’re getting out in the community, and it’s so clear that people want to rename the school,” said Fernando Figueroa, an organizer with the JPC. “We stood out in front of a neighborhood grocery store and gathered several dozen surveys in an hour, all demanding that Forrest’s name be dropped. When people hear that Jacksonville has a high school named after a Klan leader, they’re outraged.”

The growing success of the campaign has left racists and reactionaries in Jacksonville panicking. On Oct. 2, the local KKK branch in Jacksonville sent the Duval County School Board a six-page letter hysterically asking the Board to keep the school’s racist name. The letter grossly distorted history and openly apologized for Forrest’s heinous war crimes and racist violence.

Other racists have come out of the woodwork to speak against the campaign. At the Oct. 3 school board forum, several older white residents from the Jacksonville-based Museum of Southern History spoke in defense of Forrest and slandered civil rights leaders, like A. Philip Randolph. The majority of the audience at the forum greatly outnumbered the small contingent from the Museum of Southern History, who received boos and jeers when they spoke.

The JPC will continue gathering surveys and petitions from Jacksonville residents to present to the school board in November. Duval County Superintendent Nikolai Vitti publicly stated that he would support changing the name “if brought organically to the board by the community,” according to a National Public Radio interview from July 2013. The coalition plans to march on the November school board meeting to demand the name change.

Tampa, FL – On Oct. 7, members of Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) protested against Rosaria Butterfield, a self-described former “radical lesbian feminist turned pastor’s wife.” Butterfield now writes and gives lectures opposing homosexuality and advocating for evangelical Christianity. She believes that homosexuality is a sin and that her pride in being a lesbian was an even greater sin.

During Butterfield’s speech at the University of South Florida (USF), nine students in the front row stood up, turned their backs to her, and revealed shirts that had pro-LGBTQ messages written on the front and back. The shirts had messages such as “Hate speech is not free speech” and “Rosaria Butterfield does not speak for us”. Under the watchful guard of Tampa Police, private security and USF administrators, the protesters stood for the entirety of her speech as onlookers took pictures and gave approval to the protest act. The protesters then silently filed out of the auditorium as Butterfield called on audience members to ask questions.

During the question and answer session, support for LGBTQ students, faculty and staff, and the protesters was overwhelmingly. The glaring contradictions in Butterfield’s views were apparent as audience members questioned her on her stance that both homosexuality and homophobia are sins.

After the lecture, SDS joined the PRIDE Alliance and progressive students and churches in a rally. Groups set up tables to show support for the LGBTQ community and progressive causes.

Catherine Lim, a member of SDS, had this to say about the protest action, “We realized that we could not allow hate speech on our incredibly diverse campus. Forming a human chain of ‘love’ and turning our backs on hate sent the message that students will fight back against reactionary speech and confront bigotry directly.”

Expressions of support for the protest from students, faculty, staff and community members continued for days afterward.

Clarksville, TN – In less than one week, progressive students from throughout the country will attend the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) 8th annual National Convention, Oct. 11-13, at Austin Peay State University here. Featured at this year’s convention are Rebel Diaz, Sara Flounders and Kait McIntyre.

SDS is the nation’s largest multi-issue student organization. Since its re-founding in 2006, SDS is broadly building the student left – helping to lead mass campaigns against tuition hikes, school privatizations, and student debt. SDS is the leading voice of the student movement against U.S. wars and occupations.

Sara Flounders, anti-war activist and co-director of the International Action Center, will speak about the ongoing wars, occupations and so-called ‘humanitarian interventions’ of the U.S. government. Speaking with Flounders will be Kait McIntyre, an SDSer with the Chicago Anti-War Committee. McIntyre says about the convention, “As students, much of the technology utilized by the U.S. to further its wars and fuel the military-industrial complex begins at our college research institutions. I believe the SDS Convention will offer student organizers the tools to take back their campus and demand money for education and human needs, not war and destruction across the globe.”

Rebel Diaz will perform at the convention as well as host a workshop on Saturday called “Hip Hop and Immigration.” Rebel Diaz is a politically-minded hip-hop group based out of South Bronx, New York. Their workshop will focus on the historic role of immigration, the criminalization of immigrants and youth of color, and hip-hop’s role and responsibility in defending immigrant rights. Rebel Diaz will perform at 8:00 p.m. on Oct. 12 in Clement Auditorium. Admission is free and it is open to the public.

Other workshops will feature topics such as abortion rights, overcoming problems with organizing through student governments, revolutionary organizing in America’s heartland and the international student movement.

Preston Gilmore, a Clarksville SDSer and lead organizer on the SDS National Working Committee explains, “The SDS National Convention is of huge importance to the student movement. It allows all of us to learn from each other’s experiences and gain knowledge about how to synchronize our campaigns and build a national movement that unites students across the country. We are in a historical period where atrocities are being committed not only abroad, but also right here at home. From the murder of Trayvon Martin to the threat of U.S. war with Syria, students and young people are looking at the world they will be inheriting and are rising up to fight back. The convention provides an opportunity for us to meet each other. We will come together to build a more powerful movement together.”

The convention is free for everyone and is open to the public. Registration will begin at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 11 in the University Center on the Austin Peay State University campus with introductions from speakers and organizers beginning at 7:00 p.m. On Oct.12 the convention will open at 9:00 a.m. in the University Center ballroom and will run until 7:00 p.m. Rebel Diaz will perform at Saturday night in the Clement Auditorium. On Oct. 13, the convention runs from 10:00 a.m. until around 1:00 p.m.

Clarksville, TN – In just four weeks, progressive students from throughout the country are convening for the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) 7th annual National Convention at Austin Peay State University, Clarksville, Tennessee. The convention runs from Oct. 11 through Oct. 13. SDS will bring together new and old chapters as well as students from other progressive organizations. Featured at this year’s convention are hip-hop group and immigrant rights activists Rebel Diaz; Sara Flounders, a longtime leader of the anti-war movement; and Kait McIntyre, a lead organizer from the Chicago Anti-War Committee.

SDS is the nation’s largest multi-issue student organization. It re-established itself in 2006 at the height of public outrage against the U.S. war on Iraq. Since its re-founding from the 1960s organization, SDS is building broadly amongst the student left, helping to lead mass campaigns against tuition hikes, school privatizations and student debt. SDS is the leading voice of the student movement against U.S. wars and occupations. SDS organizes against the U.S. war in Afghanistan, against the occupation of Palestine, in solidarity with the people of Colombia, and against drone warfare in the Middle East. SDS is now leading and participating in the ongoing campus protests against U.S. war and intervention in Syria. SDS has good relationships with anti-war groups, trade unions and other progressive-minded youth organizations, which will be represented at this year’s convention.

On Oct. 12 there will be workshops and panels that reflect the campaigns and goals of SDS chapters. Sara Flounders, anti-war activist and co-director of the International Action Center, will speak on the ongoing wars, occupations and so-called ‘humanitarian interventions’ of the U.S. government. Speaking with Flounders will be Kait McIntyre, an SDSer with the Chicago Anti-War Committee which is one of the leading groups opposing U.S. intervention in Syria and which is currently building for a regional action, the Midwest Action Against Drones (http://midwestactionagainstdrones.wordpress.com). McIntyre says about the convention, “As students, much of the technology utilized by the U.S. to further its wars and fuel the military-industrial complex begins at our college research institutions. I believe the SDS Convention will offer student organizers the tools to take back their campus and demand money for education and human needs, not war and destruction across the globe.”

Rebel Diaz will perform at the convention as well as hosting a workshop on Saturday called “Hip Hop and Immigration.” Rebel Diaz is a politically minded hip-hop group based out of South Bronx, New York. Their workshop will focus on the historic role of immigration, the criminalization of immigrants and youth of color, and hip-hop’s role and responsibility in defending immigrant rights. Rebel Diaz is performing the night of Oct. 12 on the Austin Peay campus.

Other workshops will run through Saturday and part of Sunday, with topics such as abortion rights, overcoming problems with organizing through student governments, revolutionary organizing in America’s heartland, and the international student movement. These workshops are facilitated and led by SDS chapters, affiliate organizations and guests.

Preston Gilmore, an Austin Peay SDSer and lead organizer on the SDS National Working Committee explains, “The SDS National Convention is of huge importance to the student movement. It allows all of us to learn from each other’s experiences and gain knowledge about how to synchronize our campaigns and build a national movement that unites students across the country. We are in a historical period where atrocities are being committed not only abroad, but also right here at home. From the murder of Trayvon Martin to the threat of U.S. war with Syria, students and young people are looking at the world they will be inheriting and are rising up to fight back. The convention provides an opportunity for us to meet each other. We will come together to build a more powerful movement together.”

SDS is asking anyone interested in student organizing to register for the convention on the web at http://www.newsds.org/2013/6/3/all-out-2013-sds-national-convention-oct-11-13th. Some travel stipends are available, with housing, food and entertainment provided. A sliding scale registration fee is being asked, but no one will be turned away due to lack of funds.

Tampa, FL – Students at the University of South Florida (USF) won a campaign to keep their library open 24 hours per day. Returning USF students were surprised in August to find the library would be closed at midnight and re-opening at 7:00 a.m. everyday. This comes after years of open hours on the campus. The students defeated the cutbacks imposed by the University administration by organizing and taking action. The victory was announced Sept. 5.

At midnight on Friday, Aug. 30, as the library began to close for the night, about 90 USF students, including Tampa Bay Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), began setting up camp for a sit-out protest. Some students studied for their classes, while others struck up conversations about how the students could take further actions to make positive changes on campus and in society. Melissa Garzon, a lead organizer of the sit-out, said, “I did not expect the large turnout. The restoration of library hours is a testament to the power that students can have.”

Jared Hoey of Tampa Bay SDS said, “The administration’s attempt at shortening the library’s hours is an attack on students and learning. Many students have to work at jobs, in addition to taking classes, due to surging tuition costs. Late nights and early mornings are the only time some students are free to go to the library, and this attempt at shortening hours is a direct affront. It shows the administration’s lack of concern for students. The administration claims budget shortfalls.”

On Sept. 5, William Warmke, student government president, announced the administration’s reversal of the cutbacks. Students won a solid victory with the library once again open 24 hours a day during the week.

Minneapolis, MN – Members of AFSCME Local 3800, clerical workers at the University of Minnesota, filled the room here, June 5, testifying at a Board of Regents’ public forum on the university budget. The clerical workers spoke about how they have been impacted by administrative bloat and tuition hikes. Some of the 25 workers laid off last week attended the hearing.

Cherrene Horazuk, President of AFSCME Local 3800, told the regents, “Create a truly world class university that pays all workers a livable wage, not a poverty wage for many and luxury wages for a few. A university that recognizes and respects the work that is done and the people that do it. A university that can’t be called the university of haves and have nots. It’s long past time to chop from the top.”

In her testimony, Melanie Steinman, chief steward of AFSCME Local 3800, condemned the recent layoffs at the U of M.

Chris Getowicz of Students for a Democratic Society also testified, saying “Students overwhelmingly voted for our referendum last semester calling for increased budget transparency, student voice in tuition and fee decision, and a 10% salary cut for the 167 administrators making over $200,000. My tuition dollars should go towards education, not administration.”