After the third Student Union Conference that took place on April 13 at CSU Long Beach, some questions were answered but many others were opened. To begin with, there were roughly 80-100 students that came in and out throughout the conference, out of which nearly half or even more of the group were coming to their first CASU conference.
There are pros and cons to this fact. First off, it seems to establish that the student union as an organizational project of the student movement carries political weight to it such that students are willing to work towards it and it is able to attract new organizers. However, this also presents a problem in trying to build continuity with a project that faces the reality of constant turnover of student populations, and thus, student organizers as well.
In order to effectively deal with this problem, we need to understand the goal(s) we are trying to achieve in the future, but also what can be done in the immediate to build towards those goals. What came out of the conference was a general agreement on a framework for structuring the union today, and some political campaigns that can unite us as we build the union. Although these are very important discussions, the level of the discussions also revealed that the project of building the student union is still a very abstract one. This is the reality of the current situation that we are trying to organize in, where not much is going on, even though attacks are still coming. Thus, the task the student movement and the student union must accomplish is transforming this abstract project into something that is more concrete. This is the most immediate, and arguably most important, question to answer now.
Practice and Theory
To begin with, we need to understand the importance of taking concrete steps now. We won’t know what the student union will look like until we concretely try to organize to build for it. But, we can not simply organize without a unified approach. Therefore, in our task to organize in the very first phases of the student union we need to have an agreed and unified approach so that we have a reference point to judge our success or failures by. Having this concrete agreement will give us a common goal, and in the process of reaching this goal we will learn things along the way; and from these lessons we can adapt, change, or continue our approach. This is ultimately what is meant by combining practice with theory. Simply put, we need to work together on a common project with an agreed upon strategy, and from our experience implementing the strategy, we will learn both from our failures and successes on how to move forward.
Collectivizing Experiences Amongst Organizers
Perhaps the biggest reason why the project is as abstract as it is right now is the fact that many of the local spaces that we may be involved in now are disconnected from one another, except when we meet two days out of the year. This is a problem because throughout the state there is going to be an uneven level of development at the local levels. One campus group might be organizing well while in another campus there is nothing moving. Uneven development is a reality that we are going to have to face; but we also need a means to somehow collectivize our experience and to combine our development. This is so that the one campus body that is successful can relate their experiences to that body that is not doing so well, and vice versa. An important example of this were the uneven levels between the English speaking campuses in Quebec versus the French speaking ones. The French campuses were much more successful in organizing the strike and the English ones were on a much lower level. But, because the organizers were connected from all campuses, the mechanism of a common struggle, shared resources, and common strategy meant that the English campuses were able to accelerate their process to meet those of their French counterparts so that they could effectively strike together.
Right now, the statewide student union conferences mainly serves as this space of exchange and collective elaboration. It is a space for students across the state to talk to one another about their issues, their failures, and their successes. This experience of interacting with other student organizers across the state is an extremely important learning process that helps our understanding of the political climate we are organizing in, and in understanding potential ways to move forward. By having this space to physically meet others across the state, organizers are able to draw and see the connections between their localized struggle and the broader statewide picture. Students see various patterns in organizing that are similar to theirs, and they meet students who faced similar problems and possibly have dealt with these problems differently resulting in varying results. These conferences allow us to theorize about our various practices and to develop more refined theories moving forward.
The fact that the statewide conferences are being used for this is not a bad thing. But, the statewide conferences don’t occur regularly enough. Also, they are not the most effective space to have these discussions because they tend to eat up most of the time and force us to rush discussions or time allotted to more concrete steps forward, such as campaigns. Therefore, we need some space where we can collectivize our experiences on a more regular basis that is also more accessible so people do not have to travel across an entire state in order to participate. Having such a space is extremely vital because the construction of a statewide student union, in the fashion of Quebec or Chile, is a project that has not really been undertaken in the US. There is some precedent for us to follow, such as SDS, but what we’re trying to do is something qualitatively different. The only way we are going to begin seeing concrete strategies that can be effectively applied is for all of us to do some simple trial-and-error. But, we can not go off as our own little groups, do our own little thing, then come back together in six months to discuss what worked or didn’t work. There needs to be a body that concretely connects us and keeps us in contact with one another, so each local body is able to learn from one another.
From Understanding to Action: Regional Bodies as a Catalyst
So here lies our central problem. How do we combine practice and theory, and how do we implement structures today that can facilitate the process of collectivizing our experiences? What is basically needed in the present situation is a statewide conference that can happen on a much more regular basis. But, it is not realistic to expect folks to travel the entire state in order to achieve this. As a result, we need to replicate the statewide conferences on a more local scale. This is why we in La Voz believe in the importance of establishing regional bodies.
These regional bodies should play the role of collectivizing experiences amongst students from a certain locality. For example, in the Bay Area there are many schools such as San Francisco State, UC Berkeley, & CCSF. There are organizers involved in the student union project from all of these schools and they all come from either a UC, CSU, or a CC. So, in this region there exists a sample size capable of meeting more regularly and also reproducing a statewide conference where we can collectivize our experiences.
Moreover, there are other schools in the Bay Area region that are not involved in the student union project. So, these regional bodies can also organize outreach to other schools. And this does not just include other higher education institutions, but we should focus on K-12 and especially high schools.
If regional bodies are created and meet regularly (ideally once a month), then this means the content of our statewide conferences will deal with much more concrete issues. If in our regional bodies we discuss our problems and successes, we can get a much more regular and concrete understanding of our environment and how to navigate through it. Then at the statewide level, people are going to be able to bring concrete proposals on campaigns and structural issues in order to effectively push the project forward.
