Student organizing best practices

Knowledge from learning circles

Participants from the learning circle on student groups turnover expressed...

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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.

Ways to improve organizing within your school...

Institutionalize involvement Attempts have been made to give university credits for participation in activism. We’re connecting our actions to some curriculum

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.

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