Leveraging the Energy of Student Organizers
Students and members of community-based movements are often in an effective position to organize themselves and with others for positive social change. Youth have been at the forefront of many important movements, including the civil rights movement and the protests of the United States’ involvement in Vietnam.
A high school or college campus setting can be a perfect place to begin organizing a campaign. There are many resources available both on- and off-campus, which often include detailed how-to’s and other advice. A few of our online favorites are listed below.
ENGAGE encourages campus organizers to work in solidarity with members of their local communities whenever possible. Solidarity campaigns can be difficult to organize, but they can also ensure all people involved in an issue have their voices heard. Key student organizers might leave or graduate, but organized communities provide a more permanent base.
A Persistent and Successful Student Campaign:
The Georgetown Solidarity Committee
During her freshman year in colleage, ENGAGE member
Virginia Leavell joined the Georgetown Solidarity Committee (GSC), a group made up of students and campus workers. Recognizing labor issues such as low wages and lack of health care for Georgetown University employees, GSC chose to start a living wage campaign. The resulting worker organization, they hoped, would lead to a union through which workers would have a secure and sustainable venue to address issues in the long run without relying on student initiative. At the end of Virginia’s senior year, GSC won a package that included health care for workers and a living wage adjusted annually for inflation. A year after she graduated, GSC won their long-term goal of card check neutrality, an easier way for workers to form a union and still be recognized, and the subsequent creation of a union.
Though they learned as they went along, the GSC created a campaign based in solidarity with the workers at Georgetown. “It is important to build movements led by the people most affected by the problem,” Virginia said, “otherwise good intentions can become misguided.” Student groups must form demands from the needs expressed by workers themselves, rather than those assumed by students less directly affected by the issue.
While the concrete goals of GSC’s living wage campaign could be measured in terms of money, a belief in human equality and the rights of all working people to a minimum standard of living drove the campaign forward. In order for the campaign to truly be successful, the students sought to create a space for worker empowerment “to change their own lives and situations and the structure that effects them” by taking a level of ownership over the campaign. The ways in which GSC approached this included visiting workers on the job, inviting workers to their meetings, holding worker appreciation breakfasts, having them speak at rallies, and providing them with ESL classes.
Basing GSC’s demands on the needs of long-term workers has the advantage of adding fluidity and sustainability to a movement otherwise run by students who come and go after four years.
Even when dealing with tedious details of the campaign, they took steps forward while having fun. Their “radical cheer leading squad” got students pumped about the living wage at campus events and their living wage band sung their anthem around campus. Having fun became an important strategy for the GSC campaign.
While they encountered roadblocks along the way from an unsupportive administration, students, and faculty, their group remained driven in large part due to their attention to group dynamics. They helped newcomers feel welcome by inviting them out to coffee. They made time for bonding with road trips and bi-annual weekend retreats to gauge their progress and direction. GSC also always tried to remember to celebrate after a victory. “Otherwise,” says Virginia, “why are you doing it?” The strength of the connections they established pulled them through challenges such as their hunger strike.
Knowing how to lay the groundwork on a campaign for any vision, from living wage to a green campus, can seem daunting. “Just know,” Virginia says, “that sitting down with five friends is where everything starts, over a meal or in a meeting. If a group of people are really dedicated and focused on how they can work together, what looks impossible can become reality.”
Click here to learn more about the
Georgetown Solidarity Committee.
