student activism conferences

In 1960, after 50+ (mostly HBCU) campuses erupted in sit-ins, Ella Baker and Martin Luther King Jr invited the student leaders of these sit ins to come to Baker's Alma Mater (Shaw University) for a weekend conference.  This conference resulted in the formation of SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee).

On May 6th and 12th, two student conferences took place.

May 6th, in a coop in the Mission, CCSF, UC and SFSU students met in panels and workshops and over lunch to talk about how to build a movement: addressing key components such as

o    identifying the problem
o    effective communication
o    doing your homework (research)
o    personal relationship and community building,
o    building an infrastructure,
o    development of local leadership,
o    creating coalitions,
o    strategic use of the arts,
o    strategic use of nonviolent direct resistance,
o    learning how to deal with the contradictions within the movement,
o    and being in the right historical moment.

On May 12th at the CCSF Mission Campus, CCSF and CC Santa Monica students organized a conference in which they explored why and how to build a student union among CA community Colleges.

9:30 - 10:30  panel on privatization of education
10:30 -12:30  two sets of workshops (3 each hour) (lessons from SNCC; Disruption of Technology; the Student movement in Chile; Defending adult education)
12:30 - 1:30 lunch
1:30 - 1:30 panel on the Student Success Act
2:30 - 3:30   interview, via Skype, of student leader in Quebec
3:30 - 5 pm  General Assembly ending with a tap dance routine (Tax the Rich) to the tune of Putting on the Ritz.

Next Saturday in Santa Monica, the conversation about how to form a student union will continue.