From Florida to California, March 4th marked an exceptional moment for the student and worker movement in recent U.S. history. People took to the streets to demonstrate their frustration with the government’s failure to pass legislation that would benefit young people such as Student Aid Reform and the DREAM Act. The mainstream media seemed taken by surprise of all these coordinated actions across the country – How could students and workers come together on one specific day? Was this an organized effort? Were people demanding change from the government and legislators?
I got the opportunity to march along with students, staff, and faculty at U-Mass Amherst. Being there reminded me about the power of organizing and strategic escalation. Students at this school provided a deadline for their administrators to accept their demands around fees, budget cuts, treating staff & faculty fairly, and improving the school’s climate. We will be watching their administrations’ response and actions to come. Check out video from the great actions at the University of Central Florida and the University of California system. You can also go to www.defendeducation.org for more reports on March 4th actions.
March 4th was not only the continuation of years of student and worker organizing on campuses from across the country but also a jumping-off point for many others who are starting to feel the crunch of the economic crisis through budget cuts, layoffs, home foreclosure and diminishing wages. This work will continue. Through organizations such as USSA and SLAP and their continued support of student organizing through trainings, conferences and existing structures that foster the student activism in our universities, we will see changes occur in the prioritization of education.
So now what? Where do we go from here? We must continue to build a powerful national movement for challenging existing power structures.
Next up, we will focus on the National Student Labor Week of Action March 28th to April 4th. This week commemorates the lives labor and civil rights leaders Cesar Chavez and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and brings to light the plight that both students and workers are facing in the Great Recession. Students and workers across the country are uniting on campuses and communities across the country to fight for jobs and education. Visit the SLAP website to sign up or to download an organizing kit.
