Open your umbrella BEFORE the weather gets bad
| By RevolutionAM - Jun 9th, 2006 at 3:49 pm EDT |
Marc Loi brought up a good point about the splintering of the progressive campus sphere into small individual issue groups.
One solution to the issue/identity politics blues is the progressive umbrella organization. Done well, I've seen umbrella groups work great on campuses, especially where liberals are not the majority.
At my undergrad, we had 5 different clubs, doing different things, and there was at least a 60% membership overlap between the groups. We'd get done with one meeting and tell each other "see you in the next room in 15 minutes!" It was ridiculous, and not a very good use of time.
There are two kinds of umbrella groups you can form:
Of course, an umbrella group is only going to be as successful as its members make it. What are YOUR experiences with issue/coalition activism on your campus?
One solution to the issue/identity politics blues is the progressive umbrella organization. Done well, I've seen umbrella groups work great on campuses, especially where liberals are not the majority.
At my undergrad, we had 5 different clubs, doing different things, and there was at least a 60% membership overlap between the groups. We'd get done with one meeting and tell each other "see you in the next room in 15 minutes!" It was ridiculous, and not a very good use of time.
There are two kinds of umbrella groups you can form:
1) It's less of an umbrella, and more of a hub. All the issue groups do actions on their own, and members from the different groups meet bi-weekly to discuss what everyone is doing, and figure out ways other groups can act in solidarity. The advantage of this is group autonomy and flexibility (and perhaps budgetary independence, depending on how your campus is run). Independent groups can also execute more radical actions without the approval of a larger group of people.
2) It's definitely an umbrella, people are members of the group, and subgroups/committees are formed around different issues. This means that actions done by a subgroup would generally come before a vote of the whole. The advantage of this is there's much more obligation on the part of other members to join in the action, and people can join the larger group without committing to one or two particular issues. If the issues are linked to the group (as well as funding), this also gives an added incentive for people to come to the meetings and get involved with what other groups are doing. The disadvantage is subgroups have less leeway to do actions that the group as a whole does not approve of. This can be a good or a bad thing, depending on the action and on which side of the controversy you're on.
Of course, an umbrella group is only going to be as successful as its members make it. What are YOUR experiences with issue/coalition activism on your campus?
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A lot of groups, it seems, want to do good -- which is encouraging, but when it comes time to work together, it's not such a good thing ...
When I transfered here last year, I wanted to start an organization that'll bring together all the groups as an effort to turn the campus more blue -- they have such a thing at Harvard called "Students Taking on Poverty," which aims at progressive-minded issues.
Thing is people like to do their own things and won't allow others to part take -- it's kind of strange.
I am hoping for better days next semester ...maybe it'll start again.
Perhaps some national college organization? We have the College Dems, but it seems like as a national organization, it's not doing enough.
Only if some students will start using facebook to create something good ...the power of networking is for that reason.
I don't think a national organization is what's needed. It's important that the students themselves on campus decide what priorities to set, and what actions to work on. My recommendation is to get one or two people committed to the idea in each of the groups, and have them all come together for a first meeting: flesh out a name, a general mission, and then have you all go to each of the clubs' meetings and present the proposal. Progressives are stronger when we stand together. You can tell the groups that
- 1) We all generally agree on these points (human rights, the environment, workers' rights, democracy, etc.).
-2) If we join together each of our activities will be much better organized and attended.
-3) We can speak with a united voice when making demands of the college. We're in a much more powerful bargaining position with the administration.
-4) We can preserve each group's autonomy (depending on which kind of umbrella group you folks decide on).
If it's the "old guard" in the groups that are reluctant to link up with the other groups on campus, then my recommendation is to grab the Freshmen this fall, and get them hooked into the group. Ideally you could get a table at the organizational fair.
Once you have a group of progressives under one umbrella, then you can really start to do interesting things (like field candidates for elected student positions). And you'll have more free time, because you'll be going to fewer meetings!