Student organizing best practices: Difference between revisions

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<span style="font-size: 11pt;">The following content was additional insight collected from student organizers during the learning circle on navigating student turnover.</span>


= Knowledge from learning circles =


== Knowledge from learning circles ==


'''Participants from the learning circle on <span style="text-decoration: underline;">student groups turnover</span> expressed...'''
'''[https://en.wiki.lehub.ca/index.php/Navigating_turnover_in_student_groups Learning circle participants] expressed the following thoughts on student organizing best practices...'''
<br>
 
{| class="wikitable" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; height: 851px;"
{| class="wikitable" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%; height: 92px;background-color: rgb(255,255,255)"
|- style="height: 57px;"
|- style="height: 23px;"
| style="width: 27.5096%; background-color: rgb(209, 241, 238); height: 57px;" | ''<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">'''<br>'''</span>''Ways to improve organizing within your school...
| style="width: 19.6976%; height: 23px; background-color: rgb(153, 225, 217);" | '''<span style="font-size: 10pt;" >Institutionalize involvement</span>'''
|- style="height: 97px;"
| style="width: 80.3024%; height: 23px;" | ''<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span>We've been trying to give university credits for participation in activism. We’re connecting our actions to some curriculum</span></span>''
| style="width: 27.5096%; height: 97px; background-color: rgb(209, 241, 238);" |
 
'''''Reach beyond usual circles'''''<span style="color: #000000;"></span>


''One of the things we did was to target the leaders of different groups on campus (ex.: President of the Communications club). We promoted our campaign as an opportunity for these people to gain experience in organizing.''
''One of the things we did was to target the leaders of different groups on campus (ex.: President of the Communications club). We promoted our campaign as an opportunity for these people to gain experience in organizing.''
|- style="height: 90px;"
|- style="height: 23px;"
| style="width: 27.5096%; height: 90px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" |
| style="width: 19.6976%; height: 23px; background-color: rgb(153, 225, 217);" | '''<span style="font-size: 10pt;" >Engage with student association/student body</span>'''
'''''<span style="color: #000000;">Institutionalize involvement</span>'''''
| style="width: 80.3024%; height: 23px;" | ''<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> As student executives you have a very short period of organization. There is a lack of connection between the student body and the board body. We need to hold our student representatives accountable. There is a disconnect between what the admin does, what the association does, and what the student body does. Universities are not really democratic, and student associations are not listened to enough. Students don't want to get involved in their association because they think it doesn't represent them... but to create a real student democracy and get the gains we want, we need students to invest in their association.</span>''
 
 
|- style="height: 23px;"
| style="width: 19.6976%; height: 23px; background-color: rgb(153, 225, 217);" | '''<span style="font-size: 10pt;" >Get teachers to support your campaign(s)</span>'''
| style="width: 80.3024%; height: 23px;" | ''<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Contact your faculty's student association directly before proposing that professors support the campaign. If the association supports, it will be easier to get the information you need (for example, if there are exams during an action). If emails don't work (no response), go directly to their students during their classes (with a nice smile!)</span>''
 
 
''Professors may also hold institutional memory that they can pass along to students, knowledge sharing.''
 
 
 
|- style="height: 23px;"
| style="width: 19.6976%; height: 23px; background-color: rgb(153, 225, 217);" | '''<span style="font-size: 10pt;" >Outline institutions within your school</span>'''
| style="width: 80.3024%; height: 23px;" | ''<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> It would be helpful for groups to outline how boards, senate etc. at the university work, to provide this info for incoming members.</span>''
 
 
 
 
 
|- style="height: 23px;"
| style="width: 19.6976%; height: 23px; background-color: rgb(153, 225, 217);" | '''<span style="font-size: 10pt;" >Get support from staff unions</span>'''
| style="width: 80.3024%; height: 23px;" | ''<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Go to the teachers' unions to get more support for the campaign. Also, you can talk to the unions of support staff on campus. In the case of Occupy for example, the union was in solidarity with the students, so the process of taking down tents and things occupying the space was longer.</span>''


'''<span style="color: #000000;"></span>'''''Attempts have been made to <span style="background-color: rgb(251, 238, 184);">give university credits for participation in activism</span>. We’re connecting our actions to some curriculum''
|- style="height: 168px;"
| style="width: 27.5096%; height: 168px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" |
'''''<span style="color: #000000;">Engage with student association/student body</span>'''''


'''<span style="color: #000000;"></span>'''''As student executives you have a very short period of organization. There is a lack of <span style="background-color: rgb(251, 238, 184);">connection</span> between the''' '''<span style="background-color: rgb(251, 238, 184);">student body and the board body</span>. We need to hold our student representatives accountable. There is a disconnect between what the admin does, what the association does, and what the student body does. Universities are not really democratic, and student associations are not listened to enough. Students don't want to get involved in their association because they think it doesn't represent them... but to create a real student democracy and get the gains we want, we need students to invest in their association.''
|- style="height: 149px;"
| style="width: 27.5096%; height: 149px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" |
'''''<span style="color: #000000;">Get teachers to support your campaign(s)</span>'''''


'''<span style="color: #000000;"></span>'''''Contact your faculty's student association directly before proposing that professors support the campaign. If the association supports, it will be easier to get the information you need (for example, if there are exams during an action). If emails don't work (no response), go directly to their students during their classes (with a nice smile!)''
|- style="height: 23px;"
| style="width: 19.6976%; height: 23px; background-color: rgb(153, 225, 217);" | '''<span style="font-size: 10pt;" >Create solidarity with staff causes
 
</span>'''
| style="width: 80.3024%; height: 23px;" | ''<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> Combine your cause with things that faculty support. Create solidarity between the student body and faculty (Divest campaigns can be tied to faculty pension funds, for example). Talk to more progressive faculty who might be able to provide insight on history of the student movement on campus</span>''




''Professors may also hold institutional memory that they can pass along to students, knowledge sharing.''
|- style="height: 77px;"
| style="width: 27.5096%; height: 77px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" |
'''''<span style="color: #000000;">Outline institutions within your school</span>'''''


''It would be helpful for groups to outline how boards, senate etc. at the university work, to provide this info for incoming members.''
|- style="height: 113px;"
| style="width: 27.5096%; height: 113px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" |
'''''<span style="color: #000000;">Get support from staff unions</span>'''''


''Go to the teachers' unions to get more support for the campaign. Also, you can talk to the unions of support staff on campus. In the case of Occupy for example, the union was in solidarity with the students, so the process of taking down tents and things occupying the space was longer.''
|- style="height: 100px;"
| style="width: 27.5096%; height: 100px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" |
'''''<span style="color: #000000;">Create solidarity with staff causes</span>'''''


''Combine your cause with things that faculty support. Create solidarity between the student body and faculty (Divest campaigns can be tied to faculty pension funds, for example). Talk to more progressive faculty who might be able to provide insight on history of the student movement on campus''
|}
|}
'''FURTHER RESOURCES:'''
<span>Belliveau, Emilia. [https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/handle/1828/10052 “Climate Justice in the Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement: Critical Reflections on Youth Environmental Organizing in Canada”]. MA thesis. Dalhousie University, 2018.&nbsp;</span>
<br data-cke-eol="1"><div><span>Chan, Jody and Joe Curnow. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/26241458?seq=1 “Taking Up Space: Men, Masculinity, and the Student Climate Movement”]. In: RCC Perspectives 4 (2017), pp. 77–86.&nbsp;</span></div>
<div><span></span></div>
<div><span>Curnow, Joe.[http://www.interfacejournal.net/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Interface-6-1-Curnow.pdf  “Climbing the Leadership Ladder: Legitimate Peripheral Participation in Student Movements”]. In: Interface: A Journal on Social Movements 6.1 (2014), pp. 130–155.&nbsp;</span></div>
<span></span>
<span>Curnow, Joe, Amil Davis, and Lila Asher. [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.3102/0002831218804496 “Politicization in Process: Developing Political Concepts, Practices, Epistemologies, and Identities Through Activist Engagement”]. In: American Educational Research Journal 56.3 (2019), pp. 716–752.</span>
<span>Curnow, Joe, Tresanne Fernandes, Lila Asher, and Sinead Dunphy. [https://repository.isls.org/bitstream/1/6780/1/82-89.pdf All the Rage: Emotional Configurations of Anger as Feminist Politicization. ]2020.</span>
<span>Curnow, Joe and Allyson Gross. [http://joecurnow.com/Curnow%20&%20Gross%202017.pdf “Injustice Is Not an Investment: Student Activism, Climate Justice, and the Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign”. In: Contemporary Youth Activism: Advancing Social Justice in the United States. ]Ed. by Jerusha Conner and Sonia M. Rosen. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2016.</span>
<span>Grady-Benson, Jessica. [https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/70979158.pdf “Fossil Fuel Divestment: The Power and Promise of a Student Movement for Climate Justice”. ]B.A. Thesis. Claremont, California: Pitzer College, 2014.</span>
<span></span>
<span>Grady-Benson, Jessica and Brinda Sarathy. “[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13549839.2015.1009825?journalCode=cloe20 Fossil Fuel Divestment in US Higher Education: Student-led Organising for Climate Justice”]. In: Local Environment 21.6 (2016), pp. 661–681.</span>
<span>Helferty, Anjali and Amelia Clarke. [https://uwaterloo.ca/scholar/acclarke/publications/student-led-campus-climate-change-initiatives-canada “Student-led Campus Climate Change Initiatives in Canada”.] In: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education (2009).</span>
<span></span>
<span>Lakanen, Raili. [https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/handle/1807/95883 “‘A Battle for the Soul of the Climate Movement’: The Expansion of the Intersectional Climate Justice Frame Among Young Activists in Canada”]. PhD thesis. Toronto: University of Toronto, 2019.&nbsp;</span>
<span>Maina-Okori, Naomi Mumbi, Jaylene Murray, and Marcia McKenzie.[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652619347444  “Climate Change and the Fossil Fuel Divestment in Canadian Higher Education: The Mobilities of Actions, Actors, and Tactics [journal pre-proof]“. ]In: Journal of Cleaner Production (2019), p. 119874.</span>
<span>Singer-Berk, Lila. [https://www.oxy.edu/sites/default/files/assets/UEP/Comps/2012/2012/Singer-Berk,Lila_Campuses%20of%20the%20Future.pdf Campuses of the Future: The Interplay of Fossil Fuel Divestment and Sustainability Efforts at Colleges and Universities.] 2014. </span>


<br>




If you have any suggested revisions or additional resources to share related to the above content, please email them to kenzie@lehub.ca.
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Latest revision as of 00:32, 16 December 2022

The following content was additional insight collected from student organizers during the learning circle on navigating student turnover.

Knowledge from learning circles

Learning circle participants expressed the following thoughts on student organizing best practices...

Institutionalize involvement We've been trying to give university credits for participation in activism. We’re connecting our actions to some curriculum


One of the things we did was to target the leaders of different groups on campus (ex.: President of the Communications club). We promoted our campaign as an opportunity for these people to gain experience in organizing.

Engage with student association/student body As student executives you have a very short period of organization. There is a lack of connection between the student body and the board body. We need to hold our student representatives accountable. There is a disconnect between what the admin does, what the association does, and what the student body does. Universities are not really democratic, and student associations are not listened to enough. Students don't want to get involved in their association because they think it doesn't represent them... but to create a real student democracy and get the gains we want, we need students to invest in their association.


Get teachers to support your campaign(s) Contact your faculty's student association directly before proposing that professors support the campaign. If the association supports, it will be easier to get the information you need (for example, if there are exams during an action). If emails don't work (no response), go directly to their students during their classes (with a nice smile!)


Professors may also hold institutional memory that they can pass along to students, knowledge sharing.


Outline institutions within your school It would be helpful for groups to outline how boards, senate etc. at the university work, to provide this info for incoming members.



Get support from staff unions Go to the teachers' unions to get more support for the campaign. Also, you can talk to the unions of support staff on campus. In the case of Occupy for example, the union was in solidarity with the students, so the process of taking down tents and things occupying the space was longer.


Create solidarity with staff causes

Combine your cause with things that faculty support. Create solidarity between the student body and faculty (Divest campaigns can be tied to faculty pension funds, for example). Talk to more progressive faculty who might be able to provide insight on history of the student movement on campus



FURTHER RESOURCES:

Belliveau, Emilia. “Climate Justice in the Fossil Fuel Divestment Movement: Critical Reflections on Youth Environmental Organizing in Canada”. MA thesis. Dalhousie University, 2018. 


Chan, Jody and Joe Curnow. “Taking Up Space: Men, Masculinity, and the Student Climate Movement”. In: RCC Perspectives 4 (2017), pp. 77–86. 
Curnow, Joe.“Climbing the Leadership Ladder: Legitimate Peripheral Participation in Student Movements”. In: Interface: A Journal on Social Movements 6.1 (2014), pp. 130–155. 

Curnow, Joe, Amil Davis, and Lila Asher. “Politicization in Process: Developing Political Concepts, Practices, Epistemologies, and Identities Through Activist Engagement”. In: American Educational Research Journal 56.3 (2019), pp. 716–752.


Curnow, Joe, Tresanne Fernandes, Lila Asher, and Sinead Dunphy. All the Rage: Emotional Configurations of Anger as Feminist Politicization. 2020.


Curnow, Joe and Allyson Gross. “Injustice Is Not an Investment: Student Activism, Climate Justice, and the Fossil Fuel Divestment Campaign”. In: Contemporary Youth Activism: Advancing Social Justice in the United States. Ed. by Jerusha Conner and Sonia M. Rosen. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger, 2016.


Grady-Benson, Jessica. “Fossil Fuel Divestment: The Power and Promise of a Student Movement for Climate Justice”. B.A. Thesis. Claremont, California: Pitzer College, 2014.

Grady-Benson, Jessica and Brinda Sarathy. “Fossil Fuel Divestment in US Higher Education: Student-led Organising for Climate Justice”. In: Local Environment 21.6 (2016), pp. 661–681.


Helferty, Anjali and Amelia Clarke. “Student-led Campus Climate Change Initiatives in Canada”. In: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education (2009).

Lakanen, Raili. “‘A Battle for the Soul of the Climate Movement’: The Expansion of the Intersectional Climate Justice Frame Among Young Activists in Canada”. PhD thesis. Toronto: University of Toronto, 2019. 


Maina-Okori, Naomi Mumbi, Jaylene Murray, and Marcia McKenzie.“Climate Change and the Fossil Fuel Divestment in Canadian Higher Education: The Mobilities of Actions, Actors, and Tactics [journal pre-proof“. ]In: Journal of Cleaner Production (2019), p. 119874.


Singer-Berk, Lila. Campuses of the Future: The Interplay of Fossil Fuel Divestment and Sustainability Efforts at Colleges and Universities. 2014.


If you have any suggested revisions or additional resources to share related to the above content, please email them to kenzie@lehub.ca.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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