The Activist

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For the past four years, the Campus Progress National Conference has brought together a multitude of progressive college students from around the country. The 2008 conference was no exception. Held in early July in Washington, D.C., the day long event consisted of nearly 1,000 students eager for a day of tackling issues and pushing for a year of campus activism.

The conference started off with former Sen. John Edwards giving a keynote speech about the importance of the youth vote and getting involved with the November elections. Other speakers included notable journalists, politicians, artists and policy experts such as Congressperson Linda Sanchez, Congressperson Keith Ellison and Student/Farmworker Alliance National Coordinator Melody Gonzales.

Breakout sessions centered on a variety of topics: civil rights, acting locally, hip-hop in politics, combating climate change, the LGBT and reproductive justice movements, etc., and lasted about an hour each. Outside of the sessions, Campus Progress encouraged self-expression through music, poetry, art and student publications to show that progressive activism comes in numerous forms.

It’s no secret the youth have been pushed into the spotlight this election cycle. Emphasis has been placed on the power of the youth vote and the ability our generation has to shape the future of America. Attending the Campus Progress conference made this fully apparent. The willingness and energy from students came not just from returnees, but fresh faces just getting started in the world of activism. In my first year attending the event I know my excitement was shared with many of the participants. As the youth movement continues to develop and students become more politically aware, the Young Democratic Socialists need to consider this gathering as an invitation to network with fellow activists and recruit new members.

And why is that? These are things students need to know and be acting on. As democratic socialists, we agree that education should be a right, not a privilege. If the conference would have provided information on ways to work in solidarity with our campuses to fight greedy corporate lenders and the broken school system, we would have walked away with a lot more than we did. Aside from that, I felt the sessions could have been longer as time typically ran out before the audience could get through the Q & A portion, the main time allotted for students to interact with speakers and each other.

I think YDS benefited from tabling and had a strong representation at the conference. Student traffic was high between sessions and many were interested in YDS literature. Most students were interested in learning about our political platform, main priorities and involvement nationwide. Compared to the other groups tabling, YDS helped break up the monotony of numerous “green group” clubs, each doing the same things on campus, sharing the same goals and ideology. Since YDS doesn’t revolve around one single-handed issue, we’re a more diverse and active organization.

I left the conference imagining all the activities YDS could do on campuses this year. As YDSers, we have more opportunities than ever for chapter growth by working with other groups on local and national levels. With one of our main priorities working in solidarity with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and pushing workers rights, it’d be great to team up with organizations like Student Labor Action Project, Student Farmworker Alliance and Campus Progress to create bigger, more powerful events this year. As we learned at Wichita State, utilizing resources and attacking issues from different angles creates a more powerful message - the kind of message that turns heads and gets recognized. Since forming in 2007, my chapter, Wichita State University (WSU) YDS has turned into the largest political organization on campus, having a strong base of support and receiving regular coverage in newspapers. I’d like to see more chapters have this affect on their campuses. Also, as chapters continue to grow in numbers, it’s important that we work more internally. We need to be pushing each other, sharing ideas and giving members a chance to network with each other outside of the biannual conferences.

Young Democratic Socialists are in good position this year. We have a strong Activist Agenda, which gives us the opportunity to make a lasting impact on campuses across the nation and we have the unity and determination to make it happen. It’s going to be a great year.

Morgan Shoaff, senior in Integrated Marketing/Public Relations. PR executive director of Wichita State University (WSU) YDS, member of WSU Campus Progress, vice president of WSU Public Relations Student Society of America