Student Activism: Resources for Organizing

"Students do the hard work of rectifying racism in the academy. Administrators take the credit."

"Chioma Amuzie, a 2019 graduate and one author of the petition, wanted university administration to take more action in ending racism. The petition challenges the university to take concrete action to support Black students and racial dialogue on campus... The petition, which now has over 11,000 signatures, demanded the institution of mandatory coursework on Black history and anti-racism, the creation of an accountability board which would maintain an inclusive campus environment and cultural competency training and policies within the Notre Dame Police Department."

"In resistance, youth and student organizers have taken to school board meetings and the streets to fight for the removal of police from schools in line with the national call to defund the police after the death of George Floyd and the subsequent uprisings. Many youth and student organizers have been protesting against police in their schools for over a decade."

"Grasping at the Root is an abolitionist coalition organizing out of Brown University and established during the 2020 Uprisings against anti-Black state and vigilante murder. We understand the private university as a site fundamental to the state's carceral capacity, or power to detain, dispossess, and disappear. We understand policing as a broad set of interlocking and predatory practices that work through multiple institutions, structural arrangements, and services - both private and public. Policing secures white supremacy. It ensures practices of financial deprivation and wealth accumulation. It reinforces borders and criminalizes Black and Indigenous resistance."

"Students are pushing their administrations to match donations and protect Black students on campus."

The graduate student strike calling for a cost of living adjustment started in Santa Cruz but quickly sparked solidarity actions at UC campuses across the state, garnering national attention.

October 29, 2020 coverage of the students' sit in and march through Ardmore from the Haverford Clerk.

November 1, 2020 coverage of the HC student strike from the Haverford Clerk.

November 3, 2020 coverage of the strike from the Philadelphia Inquirer

November 5, 2020 coverage of the strike from the Haverford Clerk.

"George Floyd’s killing galvanized a nation. But small groups like the queer-led collective Black Visions are channeling that energy into a movement for political change."